Orbit

During the extra-orbital flight he struggled to recollect details of his childhood he once thought permanently ingrained into his memory. The memory of starvation was distinct, but the fine details of his formative years escaped his grasp. Crowded cities, a hot class room, extended sun-drenched walks and the absence of anything resembling material comforts were ideas which had once kept him achieving a normal sleeping schedule yet now floated in the periphery of his consciousness. Still, the day which chance happened upon him had not yet left. Although it had seemed like an act of providence in reality was an act of random philanthropy; an anonymous benefactor visiting Senegal to give one fortunate child a fully funded Western education. He often said it was only by chance that he had been selected, being eternally ashamed of the fashion in which had surmounted the seemingly insurmountable task. The man had asked for the brightest youths to be assembled, so as to discern those who could profit the most from the education.
	A simple test had been brought from a European public school, which gently touched upon multiple subjects which were deemed fundamental to education. He could not complete it. Sweat poured off his brow onto the page along with tears of frustration. The classroom had no windows, and the white man stood at the front of the class discussing an unknown subject with his apprehensive teacher. During the final minutes, his friend was escorted out of the room, after suffering from heat stroke. He had been the most accomplished boy in his class. The teacher had not had the sense in the commotion to remove his close to completed test from his desk, out in the open. He began to copy down the answers he saw on the sheet with an intense fervor the philanthropist would often describe years later “as though God had sent him a fleeting supreme intellect”.
	He, along with two other children had been selected. The years which followed took him from Africa and brought him to various prep schools throughout the developed world. After catching up with the rest of his peers, he went through surplus arduous tutoring to surpass them. His original desire to escape destitution now evolved into a desire to learn, though his attachment to his past remained resolute. His place in higher education was ultimately secured, and he continued in his attempt to satiate his thirst for knowledge in prestigious universities. For many years he studied science, philosophy, medicine and law in schools in California to Moscow. Despite being so immersed in various cultures, he always felt a distinct sense that he did not belong, seeing his true home as Senegal.
	Over the years, the expansion of his mind began to falter, and he began to feels as if he had successfully absorbed all he could from teaching and being taught. Still, he continued to teach. His feeling of disconnect from the world around him began to take a toll on his psyche, which was further complicated with his eventual realization that no amount of knowledge would ever make him happy. He suffered from perpetual anxiety and his feeling of disconnect was now an invasive force on his soul as he descended further into depression and existential nihilism. When he had reached the age of sixty, a climactic nervous breakdown ultimately led to his decision to finally return to his home nation. He had overcome his apprehension regarding the subject as over the years he began to fear that whatever solace he gained from remembering his roots in Africa would be lost upon returning.
	It was under this context which a man who one would hesitate to call even reminiscent of his former self returned fifty years later to his country of origin. He had lost his tolerance for the sights and odors which greeted him upon his return; romantic memories of a country that wasn't began to collapse around him, as his worst fear manifested itself. He did not stay long enough to find whatever family he had remaining, but instead left two days later. He could not get further away from that place. He decided to enter space.
	Many people questioned the decision someone had made in human resources in letting a man with only ten years left before forced retirement enter the training program. Even though he would have been vastly over qualified in almost any job he could have found on Earth, in space he was laughably under qualified. Regardless, he spent a whole year in Singapore training to become an external hull repairman for one of the international space stations. After graduation he was put on an extra-orbital flight to the ISS-04, during which he reviewed his childhood and his life journey. The shuttle had no windows and rattled strongly around him as he attempted in vain to read one of his books during the flight. After docking, he and his fellow employees were taken on a martial tour of their work space in the lower levels. He longed to see the Earth, but was continually frustrated as he found time and time again that the various engine and docking bays had no windows. Eventually, his group was taken to the room containing their space suits for a brief over review. As the others filled out of the cramped room, he lingered behind, put on a suit, opened the latch and exited into space. After a couple minutes he succeeded in silencing the increasingly alarmed voiced being fed into his intercom ordering him to return to the station, as his safety would not be guaranteed with a supervisor.
	He was in upper orbit, gazing upon planet Earth. It sat there, unmoving like a drop of pure water in a desert wasteland. It was a perfect blue orb, with clouds surrounding it like a morning mist and gloriously vast green forests accenting its sprawling continents. He floated still in amazement at a planet which against all odds became habitable for life and an amalgamation of all natural beauty. He remarked that in space he could see no borders between nations, and the revelation that the divisions humanity had split itself with were false dichotomy slowly brought a tear to his eye, the first of which he had ever shed since the fateful day he completed the test. In finding his perceived perfect beauty, his sense of anxiety subsided, as he relaxed into a blissful state of enlightenment while dreamily gazing down on Western Africa.