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Castles in the Sand
I will tell you a story and you can take the journey with me. Imagine that
it's July. The sun up above is hot, boiling hot, and you're working in a
tourist area, in a souvenir shop. People come in, people go out, and your
fingers are stiff from continually punching the cash register. The hours
linger on and on. Every quarter of an hour adds five more drops of sweat on
your forehead. You grunt and pray for the time to pass quickly so you can
run to the beach. You want to show off your lean, well-trained body (all
winter you fought for this result), but the boss isn't in yet so you can't
leave. At ten minutes past quitting time the boss finally arrives.
"At last," you think.
The short, pudgy, a bit bald but really very nice moustached gentleman says:
"You can go now but don't stay up all night. Remember, you open the store at
eight sharp!" You shake your head and head for the door. As you walk out you
mentally check your bag. Beach towel – check; suntan oil – check; sunglasses
– check; flip-flops – check and double check.
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And just when fatigue and sweat become unbearable, the beach is right by
your feet. You run in the boiling hot sand that gets inside the flip-flops
and burns…burns a lot. You find a good spot, lay-down your towel and dive in
the sea. The water is cool. You dip your head and enjoy the wetness with
your eyes closed.
Two kids on the sand are building castles with their colourful pails. They
remind you of when you were a child, of the past, and how beautiful it was
then! So you go out and build your
own castle in the sand. Your back smarts from the strong July sun but you
don't care. You look around and find some nice beach rocks to decorate your
castle, when suddenly you feel a shadow over you. It's that of a friend. You
begin to talk, and he, with his big foot, steps on your castle and destroys
it. All that work and it only took a fraction of a second to be ruined.
Now, this castle symbolizes friendship, trust, falling in love, loving,
mutual understanding, brotherhood. All these are built with so much effort
and labour! While we build, our feet burn in the sand, our backs burn in the
sun, sweat runs down our faces, the arms tire, the knees bleed and breath
comes in short spurts. But the castle is finally built. One small stone at a
time. And the friend, the brother, the lover, ignores it, doubts it and also
mocks it. And you feel out of sorts; no support; hopeless. Then you're
filled with anger; the blood is thirsty for revenge; then comes the "sorry"
and the forgiveness.
Unfortunately however, the castle has already been destroyed. And it's very
difficult to build again!
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