It’s such a cliché to watch the sunset. We’re all too cool to stop for a moment and just look up at the sky. We don’t have time to waste in our busy lives.

But did you see the sunset tonight? It was average: your usual pinks, and your satisfactory purples. Still, I had to pause for a second. I thought for a moment about how many times that same sun has dipped beneath that same horizon. It’s a lot of times. Trillions of times.

It’s like magic. It is magic.

I still remember the most vivid sunset I ever saw. I was walking home from school one day and it was snowing. I had my eyes trained on my feet and my scarf pulled up over my face. It was silent: that silence that only happens in winter when you swear that you can hear every snowflake as it falls to the ground.

I looked up to cross the street and caught a glimpse of the horizon. The entire sky was stroked with varying shades of fuchsia. I just stood there on that deserted street corner, squinting into the sun until I remembered the history essay I had due the next day. I trudged home, but this time I didn’t look down at my feet once.

I recall thinking how lucky I was to see such a beautiful sight. But was it really luck? The sun sets every night. It has for 5 billion years, and it will continue for billions more. All we have to do is stop for a second and notice.

So the next time you’re walking home with your nose to the ground, look up. There’s more to life than history essays.