I still remember the day I brought a water lily from a deep pond between the fields. I was all of 11 years and didn't want it to wither away soon. So, despite mom's advice, I thought I could keep it alive by keeping its stalk immersed in a water-filled bottle on the parapet of the well in front of my house. The lily lived for 36 hours in the blistering hot coastal sun. When I came from school for lunch, I rushed to see the lily only to find it dry and drooping, sad that it was snatched away from its home and kin.
I still remember the sorrow that pervaded my whole being. I kept trying to revive it for a day more until mom took it from me and threw it away.
Then I remembered how, years later, I made fun of my young sister for planting a rose flower in the earth, watering it and checking every few minutes to see if a new plant came up. She was as innocent as I. And as hopeful.
“ What is the feeling when you're driving away from people, and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing? It's the too huge world vaulting us, and it's goodbye. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies.” -- Jack Kerouac (American Poet and Novelist) From what I have seen and admired in humans, they are eternal optimists. Goodbyes seem to break us, but we straighten up and walk, holding our head high, blinking away our tears. And as regards the specks of people dispersing, when something moves away, something else comes near. Guess that's how laws of nature move. If a time comes when nothing else comes near, it's when we will become really alone; alone to live and love life without any reason, taking the next step forward.
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