My Place...

I inhale and the taste of wind fills my mouth and nostrils, hurried and breathless. My bike whooshes along the path and the gravel crackles and pops underneath my black tires as I pedal toward my destination. I drop my bike on the side of the path, and hear a crunch as it crashes to the ground. I remember when I found this place. Perfection. 


Tall, dry grass brushes my ankles, branches slap my face and grab at my shirt, trying hard to keep me away, and I trek into a clearing. Bright, doused in sunshine, green. I can taste the honeysuckle on my tongue; sweet, like a vanilla candle. I feel the mist waterfall on my face, prickling my skin, in a good way: nature’s moisturizer. I examine the waterfall. It is small, tiny, childlike… innocent. Nothing majestic. Rising only to my waist, immersing me in its flow—its tranquility. It relaxes me. I feel my bones sag, and I rest quietly along the edge. The clear liquid pools at its base, swirling a bit, and then flows quickly and silently away, carrying all of my troubles, worries, and calamities with it. It is my shelter, my refuge, my calm within the storm; ironic because it consists of the primary ingredient of a storm. 


Miniscule creatures dance upon the water’s translucent surface. It bends at their dainty touch, but does not break. In this clearing by myself, peace is the heart of it all. Suddenly, peace flies away as a loud splash resounds throughout the clearing. The water bugs scamper across to the other side of the small pond, hardly a foot away from me and yet as far as they could get. 


I have fallen and am now drenched and dripping. I have watered myself and everything around me. And while the cold pool that drew me in startled me, I do not feel irritated. Now, I can crush the long green blades beneath me as I relax, and allow the sun to massage my entire body. The yellow light bathes me, just as the cold water did before. A bath of warmth and light instead of cold and wet. Funny, hot in this clearing is the same as cold, and cold is the same as bliss. Or was that ignorance? 


A sigh escapes my lips and a breeze caresses my face. Involuntarily, words form, and I breathe out, “Thank you.” The breeze whisks my words away from me and carries them up to the heavens. Silently, I hear the reply, “Anything for you.” A smile flitters across my face and I imagine a loving face in the clouds looking down on me. I cannot understand how a world so beautiful can hold so much misery and despair. And yet I can. For the world cannot be blamed for its hunger, its suffering, its longing for something more—the truth. My God created the world perfect, and we had to take something so good and use it to our advantage; to its disadvantage. And God so loved the world that He gave us everything within it, and the world does her best to fulfill her duty by giving everything she has. Even when we snatch it from her. But my mind drifts, and I think of other things. My future…College will arrive soon, where shall I go? What will I study? Who will I meet? I begin to question myself. How can I change the world? Make it a better place? And then I realize that I do not want to change the world. I want to change the people within it.

And I will.