Today was sweet.

I went treasure hunting at the beach with my house aunt and uncle. Miss Lin might prefer protecting the open-source community over the environment, but I could never say no to the beach. I love it too much. Though, to be fair, our “treasure hunt” was really a beach clean-up. Still, the thought of turning those colorful plastic fragments we’d find into little art pieces—maybe even a cute cat girl—sparked my interest.

After an hour of drive, we arrived at the beach. I slipped a bit while climbing over the rocks and found myself right next to a young man with sun-browned skin, lying shirtless on a beach towel, leisurely turning the pages of a yellowed novel.

The sky and the sea are free. The color blue is freedom. The seagulls and the dogs here, they are free too.

I asked Auntie where the restroom was, and she burst out laughing. “In Europe, most beaches are wild. Nature’s your restroom—whatever you need to do, the sea is right there,” she chuckled.

A couple nearby turned to look at us just then, and as our eyes were about to meet, I realized they were both stark naked. Quickly, I turned my gaze away.

Auntie just smiled. “Sunbathers are all over. Even if it’s not a designated nude beach, no one’s going to care as long as you’re not right by the entrance.”

They stretched lazily under the sun, as if the world belonged entirely to them.

And maybe it does—the world belongs to every living being, equally.

Suddenly, I felt self-conscious in my own clothes.

When was it, I wondered, that humans stopped meeting each other with open hearts, bare and honest?

Who was it that marked the fruit of Eden as forbidden? Who decided that the body should be a source of shame? Who caged our natural desires in the confines of “sin” and stole the fruits of each soul’s labor, generation after generation, leaving our spirits bound?

I think the happiest humans might have been those who danced naked around a beach bonfire, grilling fish together. We would write poetry, sing songs, paint, fish, and lavishly praise one another. We’d embrace one another’s bodies, spend hours talking nonsense, with no secrets lurking between us. In such a world, if everyone knew true love, no one would ever fall asleep lonely or shed secret tears in the dark. Instead, we’d huddle close to our dearest friends for warmth, debating whether tomorrow’s fish should be roasted or made into fish balls.

Money, beauty, fame, marriage, family, nations, wars, peace.

Without the need to fish or hunt, we live defined by concepts God never created, made by humans from centuries past.

Yes, this is a simple dream. But in a world where even this kind of joy can’t exist—how can it be saved?

To survive, humans relied on concepts invented in a vacuum by mortals masquerading as gods. But now, having secured survival, perhaps to truly find happiness, we need to redefine those ideas that once helped us but now hold us back.

The world is waiting for us to change it.