by Yasmine Mohamed, staff reporter
There once was an old man sitting on a park bench. He held a newspaper in his hands. His eyes were set on the page, however, his mind wandered off to somewhere far away. A baby blue bird flapped its wings near his feet and all he could think of was “Teach me how to fly baby blue bird.” All he wanted was to spread his arms and soar to an unfamiliar and unknown place. He wanted to escape reality. He was disillusioned by life and did not seem to find any positives in his days. Speaking of his day, it was not going well, and he did not know what was missing. He felt the world was on his shoulders, it was dragging him down.
Overthinking brought his mood down even more. He glanced to his left and noticed a young girl catching her breath from an exhausting play date. At first sight, he did not notice what was in her hand, but as he looked closer, she put her head down and exclaimed, “Look what I found!” To his surprise, he saw a flower that was a horrible sight. Its petals were worn out because there was not enough rain, or maybe too much light. The flower drooped and resembled the old man’s tired eyes.
He faked a smile and slid closer towards the opposite end of the bench. But instead of leaving, the girl moved closer to him. She placed the flower under his nose and added joyously, “It smells pretty and beautiful too, here it’s for you.” He knew he had to accept this strange offering if he wanted her to go back and play, allowing him to emerge back into his thoughts. So he reached for the flower, but instead of placing the flower in his palm, she held it up away from him. That was when he realized that she was blind.
He heard his voice quiver, and tears crept down his neck. He thanked her picking the best one. “You’re welcome,” she smiled, and then ran to play, unaware of the effect that she had on his day. Sitting there, wondering how she could have seen him in the bench, he determines; “She was blessed with true sight.” He finally realized that the problem was not in the world, it was in him. He himself was blind; he could not see the beautiful aspects of his life. At that moment, he started to point out the beauty in everything. He raised the flower to his nose and breathed it in, smiling and genuinely believing that life was getting better.
