Egypt Crisis and the Like
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| Image Courtesy: thedailystar.net |
March of Anger in Egypt had already claimed its share of lives. The border tension in Indo-Pak and
Indo-China border could escalate into alarming levels, to mention only a
few. There are battles and
conflicts in many other parts of the world. Surprisingly enough, I discovered
some common alternative realities that could have made a difference. In this
article, I try to elaborate on them.
What
is Patience? For an individual from 21st century, this question
might trigger the necessity of looking things out from Wikipedia or
Encyclopedia Britanica or some other Google page. Only when the barriers of
life pose a living threat to their peaceful existence do they understand
knowing the classical definition of patience and being patient are contrary to
each other. Therefore, more than a definition, an instance perhaps would be of service
to the knowing of Patience. I used patience with a capital ‘P’ because my idea
of Patience changed significantly once I heard this story.
“The
Caterpillar and the Breeze” is more or less a children’s story. I included this
in my collection, Wall of Colours andOther Stories, because I felt that the message of the story is more than
what a child could comprehend. Well, in the ‘child is the father of man’ sense,
“The Caterpillar and the Breeze” fits well. Otherwise, it is a story that I felt,
would take a child’s innocence to tell, but an adult’s intelligence to
decipher.
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| Image Courtesy: Google |
“The
Caterpillar and the Breeze” carries the message of hope, as all the stories in Wall of Colours. However, the message
that we would see here is another. Patience. Nowhere in the story, is patience
addressed directly, although in each of the words uttered by the caterpillar,
the amazing spirit of patience is revealed.
The
story tells us about a breeze who does not understand a caterpillar’s life
cycle. So it goes on mocking the caterpillar when it was constructing a cocoon,
telling him about the futility of negating death.
“Why do you still continue it, when you
are sure to die?” Breeze was confused.
In
this story, I used the nouns Breeze and Caterpillar as proper nouns, suggesting
the names of the two entities. The caterpillar was still on her errand of
constructing a cocoon. The breeze, who could not understand the meaning of the
process, was confused. The caterpillar shows exceptional patience in front the derogatory
remarks of the breeze.
Even
though the caterpillar reaches hope at the end of the story, the route towards
hope starts with/from patience. The cocoon symbolizes patience. Notice the
emotional state of the breeze. It is confused. In other words, patience opens
the doors of hope for us, and the lack of patience not just causes damage to
hope but also prevents us from having a clear understanding of reality.
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| Image Courtesy: moviemezzanine.com |
The caterpillar
is about to die, according to the breeze. However, a surprise is awaiting the caterpillar
at the other end of death, which is the reality for Caterpillar—the resurrection
into a butterfly. The breeze does not know that.
This
story is categorized a Molecular Story
and I also used this statement before the opening of the story; “A molecular
story for the adult, who still keeps a child within.” It could also mean that
in order to taste patience and the resulting advantage called hope, one must keep
a child’s heart, afraid of the unknown, yet at the same time have the courage
to venture into its depths.
This
is my message to those who are suffering from the chaos resulted from anger and
frustration, in Egypt as well as in all other parts of the world. Patience will
open the doors to witness the Colours of the Cosmos.
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