The environment changed to that of a lake. The old man and Blue were sitting in the middle of it under a tree filled with pink blossoms.
They looked at their reflection in the lake.
"What do you see?" asked blue.
"Regret" replied the old man. "What do you see?" he asked.
"I see the pain of regret" she said.
"How do you feel?" she asked slowly.
He looked up into her genuinely concerned eyes and sighed."I feel like a fool. I feel like I've betrayed and humiliated myself. I loathe myself more than anyone in this universe. I despise myself." His voice had become bitter and his reflection became older. More wrinkles appeared on his face and the rings around his eyes seemed to become more hollow.
"I made the wrong choice. I'm sure of it now for I am unable to live with myself. Do I want to be alone? No. Do I want to be with someone? No. Do I want to be with friends? what friends? I let them all down. Do I want to laugh? Bitterly. Do I want to cry? I wish i didn't want to. Do I want to move on with my life? No. Do I want to stand still? Desperately..."
Suddenly, the lake disappeared and they were back in the dark room.
Blue found herself trapped in a cage. She shook the bars of the cage in a desperate attempt to break out.
The old man found himself surrounded by all the people he ever cared about. A stentorian voice spoke in the darkness from above. The room started to spin around them and the candle fell and set the table on fire.
"YOU LET EVERYONE DOWN! NOW YOU AND YOU ALONE HAVE TO PAY THE PRICE. YOU WILL GROW OLDER AND MORE DECREPIT, BUT YOU WILL NEVER DIE! YOU WILL NEVER DIE!"
"Stop it! PLease!" screamed Blue back at the unknown voice.
But the voice did not stop. The flames roared around them. The old man fell on his knees as tears broke out of his eyes. In a soft voice he spoke. "I'm so sorry......I'm so so sorry."
A gallant knight broke open the door and said,"I'm going in."
He jumped straight into the fire fearing nothing. He broke open the cage and carried Blue out of the fire and then went back in for the old man.
Blue found herself back at the lake. She looked at her reflection in the water. Tears streamed down her face in silence.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Untitled 2
The old man and Blue had entered a dark room that contained a single table with a single candle that was lit. They sat on opposite sides of the flame and looked into each others eyes.
"So, that is your definition of love" said the old man.
"The most honest one that I can provide" replied Blue with a look of self confidence.
"There are those who believe that you care for a time about those around you only because you need them to care about you at that time."
"They will discover the truth when they find that they are unable to not care."
"Tell me, have you ever been in a situation where you had to risk your life in order to save the people you care about? A choice between saving yourself or....."
"sacrificing yourself... No" answered Blue looking quite startled at the question.
"They say that the true personality of a human being is revealed in that moment of decision."
"All human beings are true. What matters is whether they are being true to themselves.
However, the implied meaning behind that statement is based on an assumption that life is better than death."
"There you are wrong. It is based on the fact that we do not know what death is like, but we do know what life is like and what it can be like."
"Have you ever been in that situation?"
"Yes....once... quite a long time ago."
"What did you choose?" asked Blue with a look of interest and anxiety of a magnitude that surpassed any other moment in her life.
This time, the old man did not answer.
The flame rose into the air for an instant and waned as if it were threatening to burn the place down.
"So, that is your definition of love" said the old man.
"The most honest one that I can provide" replied Blue with a look of self confidence.
"There are those who believe that you care for a time about those around you only because you need them to care about you at that time."
"They will discover the truth when they find that they are unable to not care."
"Tell me, have you ever been in a situation where you had to risk your life in order to save the people you care about? A choice between saving yourself or....."
"sacrificing yourself... No" answered Blue looking quite startled at the question.
"They say that the true personality of a human being is revealed in that moment of decision."
"All human beings are true. What matters is whether they are being true to themselves.
However, the implied meaning behind that statement is based on an assumption that life is better than death."
"There you are wrong. It is based on the fact that we do not know what death is like, but we do know what life is like and what it can be like."
"Have you ever been in that situation?"
"Yes....once... quite a long time ago."
"What did you choose?" asked Blue with a look of interest and anxiety of a magnitude that surpassed any other moment in her life.
This time, the old man did not answer.
The flame rose into the air for an instant and waned as if it were threatening to burn the place down.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Untitled
" Can you create love? Human beings will probably never be able to understand each other. Perhaps if someone took the effort to follow and understand a person every step of the way, sacrificing his own individual identity, it might be possible for one person to truly understand another. But, will there be any use of that? But, love - love does not need understanding. So, can you create love?" he asked the young girl walking beside him.
Blue looked at him with an amused smile and said, "Just because this world is more peaceful than yours, does not mean that there is no pain here. Even I know that love cannot be created. it just exists."
The old man understood. The pain of loss is found in all worlds.
"Do you see that man there? He lost his daughter to an incurable disease and now he has shut himself from the rest of the world. I cannot feel his emotions. I cannot feel his pain anymore."
He looked at the man sitting motionless on a chair with an impassive face that did not betray even the slightest sign of emotion.
"But, why?", he thought to himself.
She answered as if he had said it out aloud.
"I don't know exactly. Maybe because his pain was so great that he did not want consolation.
Maybe because the first sign of emotion that the world showed him was not that of understanding, but that of pity at his fate.
Maybe because he did not want to show his vulnerability - the "immaturity" in his view, of not being able to accept the ways of life and the ways of this world.
We are proud beings and nothing can change that. Pride gives us the will to achieve and can also be our greatest downfall. It will never allow us to give up our individuality."
"So,how do you know so much?" he asked inquisitively with an intrigued look on his face.
"Because among a flood of others who showed pity, I found another who showed understanding when I needed it."
"So the question returns. Is understanding the only way for human beings to truly co-exist?"
Blue looked far away into the distance and sighed.
"Maybe, if I had found someone who cared about what I did with my life and tried to understand what I felt, I may have found myself here, having more or less the same conversation with you, only I could've told you for sure" she said smiling at him.
Blue looked at him with an amused smile and said, "Just because this world is more peaceful than yours, does not mean that there is no pain here. Even I know that love cannot be created. it just exists."
The old man understood. The pain of loss is found in all worlds.
"Do you see that man there? He lost his daughter to an incurable disease and now he has shut himself from the rest of the world. I cannot feel his emotions. I cannot feel his pain anymore."
He looked at the man sitting motionless on a chair with an impassive face that did not betray even the slightest sign of emotion.
"But, why?", he thought to himself.
She answered as if he had said it out aloud.
"I don't know exactly. Maybe because his pain was so great that he did not want consolation.
Maybe because the first sign of emotion that the world showed him was not that of understanding, but that of pity at his fate.
Maybe because he did not want to show his vulnerability - the "immaturity" in his view, of not being able to accept the ways of life and the ways of this world.
We are proud beings and nothing can change that. Pride gives us the will to achieve and can also be our greatest downfall. It will never allow us to give up our individuality."
"So,how do you know so much?" he asked inquisitively with an intrigued look on his face.
"Because among a flood of others who showed pity, I found another who showed understanding when I needed it."
"So the question returns. Is understanding the only way for human beings to truly co-exist?"
Blue looked far away into the distance and sighed.
"Maybe, if I had found someone who cared about what I did with my life and tried to understand what I felt, I may have found myself here, having more or less the same conversation with you, only I could've told you for sure" she said smiling at him.
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