“I know.” Her voice was small yet confident. As soon as we reached the top I regretted the words that came out of my mouth.
She remained silent even as we stared out at the vastness of the sea, her eyes full of life, it sparked with amazement. For a while longer the silence remained, and just as I was about to say something I saw her watching me carefully.
“Do you like how the world is? Or do you think it should change?”
“It’s not perfect; I mean there’s room for improvement.”
“Then what if everyone in the world was just like you, what kind of world do you think this would have been?” She asked and for a moment I thought it was her way of scolding me, instead seeing her gently smiling at me, it felt more-and-more like she was reading my mind…
“It would have been boring!”
“And if everyone was like me?”
“There’d be no need for fancy buildings, I guess.” She laughed.
“I’ll have to agree! We’d all be living in stone and clay houses or wooden shacks.” She joked, and I couldn’t help but smile. She was weird, yes, but she was… different… she was unique.
“Then have you ever thought of changing the world? And if you did, how you did you think to change it?” She finally spoke again after a while.
“I have, but never really got around to how to change or really what I thought needed to change. And you?”
“I have, and I failed… Or so I thought.”
“You failed?”
“Mmmm…” She hummed. I waited and watched hoping she’d say something more.
“It’s breathtaking isn’t it?” She gestured out down the cliff to the ‘view’ that was supposed to be ‘beautiful’. I already figured that photos rarely ever told the truth about a place. It always looks better than it is in actuality so wasn't expecting much.
“It would have been a lot more ‘magnificent’ if it wasn’t for the dreary weather.” I told the truth.
“Oh? And what if you were able to change the world, would the view look any better than as it does now? Would the weather always be ‘perfect’?” One might have thought she was being sarcastic, but by now I figured she had something important to say at the end of it all.
“It’s impossible to change the world like that!” I had the urge to see where she was going, as though I was being compelled.
“Oh is it? Tell me what exactly do you see?”
“I see the sea?” I had no idea what she wanted me to say there was nothing more to be seen.
“Then do you not see the trees reaching out to the sky? Or how they form like a decorative picture frame? Do you not see the sea fighting with the rocks below or it kissing the shore only to be sent away over and over? How beautiful the sea, the land and the sky are together and yet they can never meet…?”
“But it still would have looked more beautiful if the sun was out and the sky was clear.”
“But it would have been different, it would be same anymore, just like I can never be like you and you can never be like me unless we want life to be ‘boring’ or ‘primitive’.” Suddenly it all made sense how she could be so enticed at a view so dull… She appreciated it as it was and what it meant for her in that very moment.
“Changing the world… It only takes one person to change. Be it me or you, the moment a person changes the world changes with them. It’s all about your mind, your heart and your will depending on that, that is the world you live in.” In that moment her smile was as bright as the sun before she turned to head back down. Stunned I watched her leave. The clouds parted and rays of light formed a veil around her that would ‘magic’ her away.
Stepping back I took one more glance out towards the endlessness of it all. It was just like she said… It was different, and it would continue to change, never to be the same ever again.
I wonder does she know? Does she know, by the way she smiled before she left, that she had broken me? And yet, strangely I don't mind this feeling of brokenness; for the first time I feel "free"!
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