Realization-A Short Story

Deep inside somewhere in the universe, there was a land full of people and spaces. There was a scared-looking lost little boy who was walking through that land.

He was perplexed after seeing that land. He kept walking and halted at a place where he became more frightened. The threads in his brain entangled with each other with that boy's every step.

What he saw were bodies all standing in a graveyard. The more frightening part for him was that, that these bodies can talk, can walk and they can do all the humane things.

Something that was more or less noticed by the boy was that the bodies didn't smell. So the boy stepped closer to those talking bodies to feel them. But his touch didn't change anything. It was all the same.

Soon he started listening to the voices of those bodies talking to each other, to be exact fighting with each other.

The boy quietly from far started listening to those indistinctive voices.

Some were fighting, some were dominating, some were crying out loud while some were sitting quietly somewhere in between of hustle-bustle. Some bodies were fighting for land, money, possession, food, and even emotions.

Some were green with envy, hatred, and dominance. So dominant that, they didn't even were able to feel the touch of their loved ones.

Some were crying, their voice echoing all over the land, these bodies were full of dissatisfaction and the feeling of rubatosis.

The boy got even more puzzled after seeing this hilarious sight. His threads were even more intertwined.

Slowly, he also started feeling all those emotions of dissatisfaction, greed, envy, hatred, and all those emotions of those bodies altogether.

He realized that he is also going through the same emotions as those bodies from back in the past. As he has grown up these emotions have started surfacing more in life. He was dumbfounded with the realization that he won't ever be able to get out of this graveyard of these talking bodies.

He spent his whole night in that graveyard like those who were quietly sitting in between that hustle-bustle. In the morning he saw some people going up the hill crossing the land. He wondered why didn't those travelers stopped here in this graveyard.

He ran towards those travelers. he held one of those travelers' hands and confused, he asked "Where are you all going? Isn't this the end of this land?"

The person replied, "No, who said that? This is definitely not the end. This land has a long way ahead. And I'm out here completing this journey."

"But I thought this is where everyone is… but how come you're not with those or not like those sorrowful bodies? How you don't have even a bit of a problem?"

The person chuckled and said, "I feel you. It's not like I wasn't a part of this graveyard or I don't have any problem. It's just that I developed empathy for everyone including myself and what I cherished was happiness, not sorrow. I also wandered here fighting, hating, and sobbing in a corner. I also thought no one understood me and everyone out here is living different lives and mine is the worst. But gradually day by day I started walking towards the hill and got out of this place."

He paused and put a hand on the little boy's shoulder and said, "You'll also soon get out of this place. All you need is one realization. Don't give up until then."

Just after that, that person sprinted towards the hills with a wide smile on his face.

The boy was left alone again but that person's word left a deep impact on him. He started developing sympathy and compassion for all those bodies around him. His entangled threads of brain soon started unraveling. He started cherishing happy moments of his past life and took a step towards the hill. Inch by inch he finally got out of that mortal land of sorrow, on his way to the splendid hills of life.

But as he looked back on that mortal land, he saw there were still bodies there, who were not human yet. There were still some travelers there, who were entering into that land of misery. And some travelers like him, who were gradually solving their entangled threads of brains and stepping towards the hill.

That boy was struck by a moment of Sonder as he gazed around that graveyard. The realization that the traveler was talking about was the realization of sonder, that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own.

There were still some realizations and graveyards that the boy needed to realize and experience as he kept walking up the hill on his chosen way.

~ARUSHI SAHU