Egypt Crisis and the Like

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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 21^st 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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“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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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.

For more: Wall of Colours and Other Stories