Baby steps is all! (:

Series: Stories for a friend

D I S C L A I M E R — YOU HAVE TO READ THE ENTIRE THING. CAN’T QUIT IN BETWEEN. It’s a short read!

This is the story of a charming human named Heer (a.k.a. H or it), who was blessed enough to be born into a loving family. Human’s life was filled with love, freedom, resources, intellect — ingredients to make a comfortable life. It came from a family of doctors and teachers — so Heer too was determined to help people around. Everyone who knew Heer would appreciate its beauty — both inside and out, alike. And oh doy, did H like to talk! Whenever there was an engaging conversation in neighbourhood, H could be found at the heart of it.

On one hand, It relished the conversations, on the other, awaited solitude with nature.

Going on walks was a tradition in the family, not just to process the crippling problems and clear the mental clutter but also for the love and warmth it brings.

Fortunately enough, there were plenty of open spaces and green corridors around house to be with nature. On one such walk, Heer decided to focus on a major problem that has been bugging H for weeks. The same thought had crossed its mind on several occasions, leaving it dissatisfied.

Kindness and compassion were the core of the family and the values Heer held close to heart. H believed that a kinder society would be a happier society. So at every opportunity, it would go around and urge people to be more kind, giving, loving and helpful. But despite years of effort, there seemed to be no change in people’s attitude around. H wondered why people were not ready to adopt these qualities which makes a beautiful human being. Desperate to find answers, H walked aimlessly, questioning if there was any point of all this. Little did it know that the answers were coming with a pocket of surprise.

While manoeuvring an old bridge, Heer’s foot slipped and it fell in a deep trench, from which coming alive was not an option. H found itself in a large white plain, with a red carpet leading to four golden doors. It seemed like a place, where H could possibly find all the answers. It felt alright. H got excited and started walking towards the doors. At the entrance, a multicoloured swine with glowing wings magically appeared with a paper and pencil and handed it out to Heer, gave a huge smile, and disappeared. The note on paper read, “To enter the gates, explain your last thoughts with examples and actions taken by you.”

Which translates to — whatever your last thoughts were, you had to fill activities against it. For eg, if you were thinking of flying a plane, you had to write down the incident where you did it last or attempted to do that. If you were thinking of kissing the love of your life, you had to write down when you did it last. If you were thinking about your next presentation, well! 😛

So, evidently, since Heer’s last thoughts were why people fail to be more generous, kind, loving, and so on, it had to list down instances where its actions exhibited these qualities. For a person like Heer, anyone would think that long list could be produced in a jiffy. But to a great surprise, when H sat down to write, nothing crossed its mind. It looked back on its life and realized that while H was encouraging others to do it, there were no actions by Heer that could be possibly written here.

On realizing this, H’s beautiful green eyes were filled with tears and it looked around for someone to help. The sobbing grew louder, turned into choking and eventually heavy gasps for air. A different array of questions now filled the head.

The swine, still with a huge smile on his face, reappeared. It gave one of his beautiful long-colored feathers to H to wipe its face and led H thru the gates of greats. After walking for what seemed like eternity, H saw a bald person dressed in a white and golden dress. The face resembled that of a newborn baby — with a little smile and innocent eyes. When it spoke, it felt like all the pain could melt just right away. In that soothing voice, it said, ‘I know you have a lot of questions, but if you had to ask only one, what would that be?’ Heer, astonished by the calmness around, contemplated for a while and said, ‘How am I allowed here despite not being able to write anything on the paper?’

The person, known as Roe replied, ‘You are here because the people who loved you wished for you to reach here safely.’

In that moment, all the things Heer could’ve done for its people flashed before those startled green eyes — and gratefully there was just enough time!

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This post was previously published on medium.com.