Page 29 - Taliesin's Rainbow

Reed College Acceptance Essay

Taliesin Namkai-Meche - February 2, 2011

The earth counts time in billions of years. Life, a miracle in
the universe began a little over four billion years ago, ap-
proximately one of which passed before water vapor con-
densed to form the planet’s oceans. The ground would take
another three billion years to be fertile enough to give birth
to trees and vegetation. In perspective then, the 200,000
years that Homo sapiens have existed is but a blink in the
life of our planet. Yet in our short time on earth, we have
managed to disrupt the delicate balance that is so essential
to life.

Linkage is the motor of life. Everything from water to air
is tied together in an inseparable chain that promotes
the success of everything else . Nothing is self sufficient,
not even humans. Humans benefit from a magnificent four
billion year old legacy bequeathed to us by the earth, but
the way we have paid it homage, is to have changed the face
of it entirely. Despite humankind’s vulnerability we have
taken possession of every habitat, and conquered swathes
of territory like no other species before us. After 180,000
nomadic years, humans settled down, choosing to live
in wet climates where land, water, and life would com-
bine to form a synthesis so conducive to human life, that
we would need to expound little effort to catch fish, and
gather local plants. We lived in perfect symbiosis with na-
ture; man plucks from the vine to sate his hunger, and the
plant can blossom again.

(This is the 1st page of a 6 page essay)