Tag: lesson learned less concerned

Drawer.

October 25, 2023 / PS / 0 Comments

H: “Don´t break it, idiot!”
G: “I am not! Why don´t you back off a bit and let me try it? You had your turn.”
H: “Fine, go ahead then.”
G: “You called me and here I am. I usually don´t do this, just so you know. In most cases, people just keep getting stuck or choose a different one. So just appreciate it a little, man.”
H: “Yeah, yeah… but can´t you observe that all of the other ones have already been opened? They all have the same label, they all look the same, they all opened the same way. So this must be it.”
G: “Man, you don´t even know what you are looking for!”
H: “Of course I do!”
G: “Sure, just like the others that have shouted until I came.”

G continued to fidget around while H turned his back and watched out the window. The winds were carrying clouds through the sky and the conducter sat on his hill in the middle of the city.

H: “Why is the conductor always waving around his arms, even though there is no sound or even movement he is conducting?”
G: “Do NOT fuck around with the conductor, I am telling you! He was there way before any of us. I don´t even know how he got onto that hill. One time this one guy got drunk and tried to walk to him, but the conductor just opened his eyes, bent his thumb and the guy turned into slush.”

H watched the conductor and tried to interpret the signs he was signalling. There didn´t seem to be any coherent pattern. “Maybe he is just a mad guy”, thought H.

G: “He certainly is not. But you are all just too limited to see.”
H: “What´s that supposed to mean?”
G: “Well, 80-something years are just not enough.”

H cringed and waited for an answer by G. G did not explain any further and continued to work.

H: “Man, how long is this taking? I thought you are supposed to open all of these regularly?”
G: “Everyone thinks that. But they just keep calling me. So usually I just sit back because it will open itself at some point. Sometimes with force, sometimes not. But in any case, they thank me as if it was my doing. To be honest, the conductor probably works more than I do. And he is doing it with closed eyes. He could be sleeping or dreaming, for all I know.”

H looked around the room. There was dust everyone and empty beer bottles. He couldn´t even remember for how long he was trying to open that thing. He didn´t eat, didn´t sleep, didn´t go out or meet anyone. It could have been years. Although probably, it was just a couple of days.

G: “There you go, maybe it´s working now.”

H stepped closer to the wall and pulled. The whole front broke off.

H: “The whole thing broke!”
G: “Well, you are the one who desperately wanted to open it. The only option was force now.”
H: “Know-it-all.”

He looked deep into the cavity that missed the front cover.

H: “What the fuck is this? Are you kidding me?”
G: “What? I didn´t put it there.”

H grabbed into the drawer and pulled out a watch.

H: “This is it?”

But G was already gone. H looked at the watch. It was counting up, continuously ticking. He checked the label of the drawer again.

“SOLUTION”.

With his back turned against the wall and with the watch in hand, he slid down to the ground. From the middle of the village, you could hear the conductor laughing out loud.

And here we leave our protagonist. Please enjoy the following soundtrack as the conductor sits on the hill, waving his arms, laughing.

Onion.

April 28, 2023 / PS

You tell me that the worst part about being this good-looking is the vanity that comes with the attention. I am shimmering, shining, even out-shining everything that stands besides me, lives besides me, vegetates. The responsibility of bearing this sheer beauty is immeasurable to the average observer. It is a hard life, believe me. For years, I am in this situation now and it has never gotten easier. But the steadfastness of my will, my stature and my role as an example will carry me throughout this hardship.

I know what you are thinking now, reading this. I can feel the sentiment, the resentment, building up. But this is my role as well, I am here for your anger, frustration and judgment to be deflected, redirected and misdirected at me. Do not worry, I have a good understanding of what you must be going through. And I do even have a better understanding that me saying this, agreeing with you, holding up my other cheek in a good Christian manner for you to slap, makes you even more mad.

Anger is an outburst of emotion, something that urge-driven beings succumb to when reason and logic fail. The very reason for my heightened role in this situation is that I have accepted my position. I bear responsibility for my shining purple skin, seemingly endless beauty, my longevity of being, the impetus that is my core. You are struggling, I can see it. You are worried about the position that your kind has. So you lash out.

Get angry at me. You feel that my vanity is my doom. One scratch to my skin and my frail ego will burst into pieces. You try to hit me with all your might, the anger and blind rage that has been building up, resulting from the collapse of your own ego.

I am scarred.

But here I stand before you, undressed and scarred. You look at me with widened eyes. The anger has vanished but no wisdom has been created. I am shedding myself, slowly. I am making you cry as I loose my outer layer. I am unpacking myself, my new, shiny, beautiful purple skin. I am still standing, nothing has changed. I lost my scar, leaving you with tears in your eyes.

I forgive you.

This is why I am an onion and you are not.

Apple.

December 20, 2022 / PS

“Have you ever heard of the fable of the apple?”, asked the old grape. “I didn’t think so….

…. You see, a long time ago, when meadows were lush and my skin was impeccable, we all lived together in peace, side by side. The grapes, a wildly spread fruit of communicative, cheerful and bubbly sweet temptation. Our vineyards spread over kilometres! We hung together in small families, as it is still a custom now. But even though you were very close with your fellow grape family members, you knew everyone around you. Of course, there is the more posh red grape and their colourful changes throughout the year. But in the end, we all know that we come from a vine. There, to ultimately serve as a delicacy.

Our neighbours next door were, of course, the plums. A hidden fruit. They do not draw much attention to themselves and even stray away from others high in their trees. I must admit, the plums are a depressed people. They hang on, grow and grow, far away, only to decide ultimately, they don’t want to be picked! In their ripest moment, the ecstatic crowd of people waiting for them to shine, they simply fall. Fall to the ground, to be mushed by feet, animals and insects. In a mass grave of sugary leftovers, they leave their seed to possibly start the circle from new. But you see, while others brush the plums off as a unnecessarily dramatic fruit, I can understand their resentment. As I am now myself not a grape, but almost a wise raisin, I have come to realise the fault of our kind: we grow to be one of the most pleasurable things on this planet, only to suffer decay when our perfect time is missed. We cannot scream, we cannot tell: ‘Pick me! I am ripe, I am ready!’ For such is the nature of our time on this earth. Not many are blessed with a different destiny.

It is similar with an underestimated delicacy that grows in our neighbourhood, the pear. The pear is a spiteful lover, it either charms you or leaves you stung. It can be your rise or your fall. But secretly, I believe, the spite of a pear is only due to its vicinity to the main actor of my monologue, the apple. Looking similarly but being thought of as ‘low descent’, the pear vengefully has now other choice as to smite those who only stop by their tree as they mistook them for an apple tree. Only mushed into a juice their anger is lessened, silenced I would say. I am sorry for the pear, it creates its own vicious circle.

‘But my dear grape, you wise raisin, where is the apple in all of this?’ And you are right with your inquiry!

The apple, falling into the same categories as all of us, has claimed a spot that is undetected by many, yet highly prolific. It is widespread and used in many ways. It falls from the tree, is mushed and juiced and used. But throughout, it has remained with a positive attitude towards life. It knows that the moment of ecstasy will come, so it preserves its value, its sweetness and its taste. Even its health benefits are there for many weeks. Have you ever wondered why there is such little variety in plums and pears when compared to apples? The apple invigorates its final means, therefore knowing that the next generation will be saved and, human willing, even more successful than the last!

Now you wonder: ‘How are you, a grape, able to tell me this?’

Well you see, us grapes have the notion of being plenty, therefore a few of us are unnoticed. And as I am lying here, on the ground underneath you young grapes, in the muddy ground, slowly becoming a raisin, I give forward my knowledge, hoping that one of you will be there to be a raisin as well.

Therefore, the most important thing I can tell you is, that even though we wait for the moment of ultimate ripeness, sweetness and completion in life, it is what comes afterwards that defines us.

Weekly review 8.

December 18, 2022 / PS

Winter has come and my toes are cold.

It has been, without a doubt, a cold week. Hardship and reluctance were dominant, as astrologists would say. Maybe they would throw in a planetary constellation to just make it sound more reasonable. But I am not here to tell you the future, I am here to tell you the past. You know why? Because I think you are not reviewing your week enough. I actually think you don’t even review your last hour.

This is indeed a good exercise. Because, similarly to those asking star-sign-interpreting prophets, you might look here to find a closer insight into your week, my week, or even ours altogether! So my toes were freezing, how are yours? (Just kidding, I know you can’t answer). I’ll just spit out what happened.

“So hardship and reluctance you say?”, my beloved reader shouts through the aether.

I am thinking and I have to admit that it was not fair for me to say that. Reluctance, yes. But it was the same reluctance for when you have delicious leftovers from Society’s takeout, leaving them for tomorrow only to come back at 3 AM to stuff your brain with it. Believe me, I have been there.

And hardship? That too might have been, how some people say, “click bait”. I deeply regret my choice of words here and I apologise for fooling you. My hardship has been indeed comparable to the hardship of knowing that you need a delicious coffee but you know that it requires movement and sometimes even a trip to the supermarket.

So no, winter is here, my toes are freezing, but I am alright. Maybe there is a lesson here coming from all this nonsense. I will try to distill it.

Look back, see your last day, the past hour. Maybe even the week if you feel bold. Then think about, what was a thing you would first describe with, excuse my poor choice of words, “click bait”, that was not so terrible after all?

May your toes live warm and prosper!