Does the very fact of being here create a moral responsibility?
I think it does.
But this question is greatly dependent on your worldview.
If you want to know the truth, I think the fact that we are here is just insane.
You exist. You live and breathe, and love and die, feet held down by gravity, on this little random planet moving 390 kilometers per second through the universe.
I might even take it a step further.
I think the fact that we exist creates an ethical responsibility to get to work.
After all, this planet might not be so random, after all.
And soon, we will all be gone.
Every day, when I wake up, when my bare feet hit the cold wood of my bedroom floor and I begin the process—scrambling the eggs, pouring the juice, packing the sandwiches, locating sneakers, yelling “bye, drive carefully” as my husband and son head off—I try to remember that to sit down and write is a gift. That if I do not seize this day, it will be lost. I think of writers I admire who are no longer living. I’m aware that the simple fact of being here creates a kind of responsibility, even a moral one, to get to work.
-Dani Shapiro, Still Writing
