As I entered the land of silence on
this sunny afternoon, I fell into curiosity.
I see grand trees and brown, green,
yellow, orange and red leafs that October left behind.
I feel the cool breeze swift through
my hair,
I hear birds twittering, the
beautiful soothing creek running as it nourishes this land, and I hear my
thoughts wondering,
I inhale fresh air and smell soft, pleasant grass,
Until
my paranoia of bugs decided to kill this insightful split second.
The
thought of all the bothersome little creepy-crawlies running wild around me
makes
the hairs on my neck stand up.
A
sprint of quivers dashed through my body; from head to toe.
I
wish my mom was here with her comforting hands, ready to stroke my hair and say,
“Its okay! They are just bugs. How could you be scared of such little
creatures?”
I
remember the trillion times she has said that to me, and again, I wish she was
here to say it a trillion and one times.
It is
funny how everyone around me is quiet; I haven’t seen them this hushed for a
long time.
Sometimes
I forget what silence feels like. I can’t recall the last time I attained inner
peace, or spoke without words.
Life
is always busy, never gives me a prospect to echo back and feel alive.
But
this moment; this reflective pause to life is all I need right now.
I have two paths lying before me;
right or left?
My essence can’t decide which trail
to follow, yet the man in front of me, let’s call him ‘guider’, motioned to the
left with a smile. And so we begin this journey…
We walked slowly, and as I gaze
around me, we stop or a moment of reflection...
Now, I can see everything clearly.
Behind me lies a big hill, rocky
with broken branches all around; branches that last night’s wind must’ve left.
Before me stands a strong prideful tree. It’s been through a beautiful
childhood,
Interesting teenage years, and now it is old
and wise; knows the hardship and beauty of life. It is smiling, at me! It’s
telling me about how rough the past two stormy weeks have been, but it’s
finally sunny again. I agree, and smile back.
Our guider escorted us down to a
rocky path. The fear of sliding on this wet slope just hit me. I’m struggling
to walk down, and suddenly I reminisce about the numerous times I fell in the,
and scratched my ankle, after all, I am clumsy! I slowly slid down the hill,
and managed to land safely.
As my eyes pondered, the thought of
God and his miracles flew across my mind. I looked out at this beautiful
scenery, and I was thankful, and happy to be me; glad to be here.
We reach our last stop. I stand on a
podium, where I can see the stage in front of me. Afore me lays the future;
beautiful mother earth, and behind me lays the past; the broken branches and
torn trees.
I feel like a queen, a queen indeed.
Our guider turned around with a
smile from ear to ear, and pointed back, and so we begin our journey back; back
where it all started….
At this summit, I look around me, I
see clueless faces and I see engaged faces. But there is one face that stands
out the most; the guider’s facial expressions. He had a smile on his face throughout
this entire expedition, and at this moment; in the middle of the woods, his
smile grew wider and wider, and his eyes were glowing like a youngster.
As they say the eyes are the
windows to the soul, they are indeed.
Abruptly, people’s hands are telling
me to move, I stand still in astonishment, and then I see a finger pointing
downwards. I look at my feet, and I realize that I’m standing on a dead rat,
with all of his insides gushed out. I swiftly jump out of my skin, and feel
sick to my stomach. What a great way to end my journey, huh?!
We walked back; a walk that motioned
circularly. As I’m stepping out of gate of the land of silence, a quote came to
mind:
~ I wish you a very good journey to an
unknown you've never seen. ~
This
journey in the land of silence is much like life; I started out curious because
I didn’t know what the future holds for me.
And like our guider, there will always be
someone steering me to the right path, but after that, I have to decide my own
destination; a destination that will be fulfilled with disclosure along the
way.
For
a second, the entire journey flashed before my eyes.
I’m
gradually grasping that I’m officially back in the real world; the land of
noise and uproar.
In the real journey, silence is no
longer an option.