The Weight of Gravity

We spend our lives learning how to stand. We learn the friction of the earth against our soles, the way the spine must hold itself against the pull of the world. Gravity is a constant, a quiet demand that we remain tethered. Yet, there are moments when the body forgets its own weight. It happens in the briefest of intervals, a suspension between the ground and the air, where the intention of movement outpaces the reality of the earth. We see it in the young, who have not yet been taught the necessity of caution. They leap as if the air were a solid thing, as if falling were merely a choice they have decided to postpone. It is a terrifying, beautiful defiance. We watch, and we remember that we were once capable of such reckless grace, before the years settled into our bones and reminded us of the ground. What remains of that lightness when the earth finally claims its due?

Jose Juniel Rivera-Negron has captured this fleeting suspension in his image titled Free Like a Bird. It is a reminder of the time before we learned to fear the fall. Does it stir a memory of your own weightless days?