sponges are animals

This past Friday, in my marine biology lecture, I learned that sponges are animals. They can’t move, they have no organs, or thoughts but yet they, by definition, are classified as an animal. An animal that sits stationary on the ocean floor and spends 24 hours of the day pulling water through its pores, filtering unfathomably small particles of phytoplankton, consuming them to supply the energy to continue its process of life. I can’t imagine external elements having that much influence over me- to quite literally only exist at will of the oceans movement. It was snowing outside for the third time this year on a late February day and it made the whole campus look so beautiful and bright, while also giving it a chilly undertone that only a day in late February could give. It snowed because it was too cold to rain and our location on Earth was at its point in the hydrological cycle that the water which took refuge in the clouds was ready to precipitate back down into the atmosphere and begin the cycle all over again. By chance there was a disappointed ground hog that prayed, hoped, crossed its fingers, toes, and eyes longing for 6 more weeks of winter but was left gruelingly disappointed. So the sky gave snow to remind the groundhog that there is reason to have hope in this world. Or maybe the cloud simply disliked its current state of being, or maybe it recently lost a loved one and couldn’t help but cry out to the universe, releasing its pain, extinguishing its carried burden and dissipating into an invisible form of existence. Sometimes it feels nice to disappear from the world for a little while. My whole walk home I was excited to get inside and cozy into bed to enjoy the temporary makeover that the landscape from outside my window received, contently from the comfort of warm blankets and centralized heating. I acknowledged the absurdity in how much around us is alive and how little we take notice it, as I grabbed my headphones and played music loud enough to drown out everything from the world around me.