Peter: In the Midst of It

“What? Is the plane gonna crash?” Peter exclaimed, waking me from my much-needed slumber. We were aboard a plane, headed back from the yearly residential trip. 

“No, Peter,” I groaned as I repositioned my posture, trying my best to fall back asleep, “We aren’t going to die.” 

Those in Year 9 at my school will most likely know who Mr. Peter is. In his 6 months (at the time of writing) at the school, he has made an impression on all of us. In all honesty, he is seen as weird. I acknowledge that some might find it hard to befriend him and, more importantly, understand his whole gist. My friend is often ridiculed or cast aside for his different behaviors. But if one were to block out all the funny moments and isolate Peter Li as just a person, not a character or laughing stock, then it becomes abundantly clear that he possesses one of the hardest skills to master. 

On our daily lunch meals, one can expect Peter to bring up topics out of the blue, with the likes of “What Does the World Look Like?” to “Why do Penguins Like Ice?”. They embody the surreal innocence that radiates wherever my friend goes. After he has eaten his fill, you can find him grabbing and complaining to a staff member about olive oil, dapping up the tennis coaches, or stopping fights between the best of friends, which were never really going to happen. Peter dances for no apparent reason. Peter sings when he doesn’t need to. He works on projects so abruptly he puts MPA administrators to shame. He often misinterprets what some people say and freaks out, or under interpret the importance of some discussions. Peter is a patriot, and his undying loyalty to China, and more importantly, Xi Jing Ping impresses me. I did not know someone could be this dedicated to his country, willing to sacrifice everything in a heartbeat for his nation, and he lets us know of that fact. However, Peter does not dominate, he is not assertive. He never forces his beliefs on others, rather he declares them to you in hopes that you would ask him more, which ironically would upset his role model. 

Do not think Peter is not intelligent—quite the opposite. He is gifted in math and reads college-level textbooks and novels, from 19th-century American literature to full-length Chinese textbooks on ancient history and philosophy. He has a profound understanding of nature, why things are the way they are, and the natural sciences. Still, I do not know why he acts in such ways. Because of his behaviors, he might be saved from the mind-boggling topic that is human existence. 

Peter is an absurdist. To his own admission, he is not much of a god-believer, nor are his beliefs rooted in superstition. “But why is Peter so weird?” asks Avik Mitra. I don’t think I will ever know the true answer to this question. 

Life is meaningless, and it is very, very absurd. Things happen for absolutely no reason, or because another thing caused it to happen — a never-ending wheel or cause and effect. Millions still die of starvation. Tyrants still run wild and our planet is literally on fire. 8 billion of us humans were given the curse of self-awareness, with which we have spent eons debating, fighting, and arguing over the meaning of life. I think Peter knows this very well. The absurdity of his actions requires him to know this. He is smart, and his maturity is above the average 14-year-old; but why is he like this? I think Peter consciously or not, is embracing the meaning of life: nothing. He does things for the sake of it. He stops fights that aren’t happening because he never wants fights to happen. He freaks out because he wants to, and he doesn’t apologize. The words he spews out are confusing but bitterly true. The questions he asks are extremely simple and sometimes painful to answer, but from time to time these things are necessary for us to properly rewind. We humans spend too much time thinking of the future and the past, both of which are concepts that do not exist. Peter embraces the present and nothing else. He enjoys the moment, studies what he wants, and does what he thinks is funny or correct. 

No, I am not advocating for us all to be as outgoing or energetic as Peter, that would suck the life force out of all of us within days. I am advocating for absurdity — the acceptance of the fact that we are a bunch of tailless monkeys, confined in a relatively small rock, without much inherent meaning. Yet in the midst of it all, we have defied the odds and have always strived to create our kind of meaning. Whether it's love, art, photography, or literature, we humans are by our own doing, making life worth living. Barely anyone keeps living happily by aspiring to simply live. There must be at least some motivation, some dreams or aspirations one has to keep them going. No, we will never be fully fulfilled as there is no universal meaning to life, but at least we can be like Peter, blissfully oblivious to how cosmically insignificant we and our relationships are. Let’s spend a little less time thinking, and more time loving, exploring, and simply existing in the moment. 

Be absurd. Question everything. Challenge norms. Embrace Beauty. Be like Peter.