Cold days

©MCD_Snow

There is a game to play when you want to make a quick decision and you’re hesitating between two options. To resolve the dilemma, you’re told to ask yourself a series of questions with two answers; the key is to respond as rapidly as possible without thinking too much. So when you get to the query at hand, you’ll answer quickly enough to know how you truly feel about it. Speed here leads to authenticity.

One such question could be if you prefer to be too hot or too cold. But what really is the answer to that, without being season-sensitive concerning when you’re actually asking the question?

In summer, we’re likely to say we prefer being cold. And in winter, vice-versa.

But then a day comes, when snowfall begins unexpectedly – as suddenly as it may be given the week-long meteo warnings. And everything seems so much prettier. Snow makes everything appear happier, more magical, more walking-on-clouds-fluffy-paradise-bright. You don’t care if it’s cold when you’re dressing up like an eskimo, to walk outside like a penguin, to engage in snowball fights like a child. It doesn’t matter if you can’t feel your limbs, let alone your fingers when you’re gathering snow to build a perfect snowman. Amidst the laughter the snow day is causing, the cold is just a side-effect.

But when it all starts to melt, when the fluffy snowflakes turn into rock hard ice, when it’s too slippery to tread outside in the sludge, and when it’s so freaking freezing that it doesn’t even matter there is the sun in the sky, then, yes, you begin to consider that not everything is so lovely as it initially seems. Everything has its limits, and if you’re not prepared – without the infrastructure or mechanisms – to deal with extreme weather conditions, the problems caused can be life-threatening.

Perhaps the cold is something that can be solved with a warm house (via a fireplace or radiator at least), a cosy blanket, a hot beverage, good company, and some entertainment. Perhaps even the temperature is something we control in our minds. But the truth is, cold makes you shut down to preserve energy.

We want days off because we’re too cold to move. But if we were moving in the first place, we might not feel the cold too much…

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Jury duty

©Ted Strutz

What makes a person fit to judge? No matter how much evidence they assess and review, what really gives anyone the right to decide the fate of another?

These were her first thoughts when she received the letter for jury duty. She had to go or faced a heavy fine and someone else would judge her instead.

But really, what gave her the responsibility of criticising another?

In court, the defendant presented his case with a series of old black-and-white photos. Memories of another lifetime no-one else could imagine.

Yet, his outcome was now in the hands of complete strangers.

Also part of Friday Fictioneers

The wrong turn

Elaine knew it the moment she stepped in the door. It was the wrong turn. The wrong decision she had taken. A bad choice. But she had now crossed into it and there was nothing she could do to change it. She just had to survive not being perfect for once.

All her life she was raised to live up to other people’s expectations. And more. She was the one who had to know how to dress right, to behave properly, to be kind and courteous no matter the person or the occasion.

But today, she had chosen unwisely. She chose to go against her instinct and it turned out to be wrong. But she had to experience this too. It would be the only way she would go stronger and wiser for the next time she encountered a similar dilemma.

We often take the wrong turn so that we are more certain when the choice comes in the future to take the right one instead.

The things you’d rather not know

There are some things in life that you’d rather not know. Because sometimes it is better to live with the notion of reality that you’ve formulated in your head, rather than the truth.

Sometimes it is better not to know. Because knowing changes everything.

There are some things that affect you even if you try to deny it. That haunt your dreams at night and stray your thoughts during the day.

There are things that change your whole perspective of life.

But there are things that you wished you’d never known, because it hurts too much now that you do.

Because expectation truly is the root of all disappointment. And the more you know, the more that illusion you built up for yourself crumbles down.

Sometimes ignorance really is bliss. In most cases, it is certainly a calm of mind.

And sometimes it is just better to not know certain things. Because maybe that’s how curiosity did kill the cat.

But you’ll always be left to wonder, if it is better now that you know, or if it would have been better to continue living with the false belief of not knowing all along?

Life is a constant dilemma. And the choices we make will undoubtedly affect our entire view of the world.

Hope is a waking dream

Alison went to bed with a dilemma: should she make the call the next day or not?

Should she appear bold enough and take the risk, her heart pounding as she dialed the number and waited for someone to respond; her throat drying up as soon as she heard the greeting at the other end of the line; and improvising whatever she needed to say, although she had already practiced it in her head so many times?

Or should she just forget about it all? If it was meant to be, they would call her themselves. Wouldn’t they?

Should she just leave it up to fate? Or should she give it a push herself? Maybe they did need a reminder. But what if they thought she was too forward by calling?

She tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep, the “what-ifs” circling in her head.

Alison managed to sleep for a couple of hours.

In the morning, the dilemma was still in her head. But in the spur of the moment, without thinking too much about it, she took the phone and dialed. All she could do now was hope.

If it worked out, great; if it didn’t, then at least she tried.

“Hope is a waking dream” – Aristotle.

Trapped

 

 

 

 

 

A room full of dreams
turned into shadows dark,
and unpleasant themes.

What once was full of life
is now left empty.
With no loving hug,
no welcoming seat.

A soaring pain inside the heart
cannot be healed
without a cure;
not without a miracle,
without change.

Lost between two worlds,
what do you do
with a troubled heart?

Do you stay and fight?
or run away?

Do you plea for life?
or cry in pain?

And all she feels is left alone.
Encircled by people but so alone.
For only she can decide her fate.

She is confused, clouded, and dazed.
but what she truly feels
is trapped.

The fish and the diver

The saying goes that time flies when you’re having fun. Many people can testify that time passes even faster in the summer. The days are longer and yet they always appear too short. And before you know it, summer has passed and a new season approaches.

The end of vacations leaves you with a sweet lust for more – a longing for a life of eternal holiday, carefree and away from anything that causes stress and white hair to appear.

A yearning to escape the “real” life, for something more…desirable.

But given the chance, would you truly do so? There always seems to be something pulling you back. A cautious realism fighting the idealistic dream.

And it instils within you a dilemma. What would you do if you were given the chance to change your life?

Here’s a short story on this:

There once was a young man who worked as a banker. He hated the fact that his job was same in same out. There was no excitement. Nothing that sparked the adrenaline in his body. Nothing at all like diving, which he loved and would do at every opportunity he got. He dreamed of a house by the sea, where he could spend endless hours in the water with his favourite sport. But the problem was the one thing he was now occupying his days with: money. If he followed his dream, he would soon be short of cash, and have no income whatsoever. It would be much harder finding a job as a diver than as a banker.

One day, in his diving expeditions, he saw a beautiful yellow-coloured fish swimming around him. He stood still and used his snorkelling gear to take a closer look. It was a fish that seemed as sleek as the clear waters that day. And as it reflected the rays of the sun it appeared to be sparkling. As if it was wearing a crown of diamonds. The fish was not afraid of him. Far from it. It even swam right up to him. And as the diver could not resist, he stretched out his hand as if to catch it.

The fish swam right into his palm instead of away from it.

Hauling it out of the water, the diver observed the fish closely. It appeared to be staring intently at him. As if it wanted to say something.

“You’re wondering what kind of a fish I am”, he suddenly heard a voice say.

“I’m enchanted. And I can change your life as you please.”

It was the fish that was speaking to him. It had a soothing feminine voice that suited its regal figure.

The diver gasped and almost dropped it back into the water. The fish was sitting still in his hand. Not gushing at all, like it would be expected from fish out of water.

“How? What? How…?” thought the dumbstruck diver.

“Here’s the issue,” said the fish. “You can either kiss me and I will turn into a princess and we may end up together. Or you may say the word and you will become a fish too, here with me, swimming freely for the rest of your days without a care in the world.”

The diver was flabbergasted. What do you say to that? Do you accept a princess and endure the hardships of supporting both of you, or do you abandon the human world for that of the life aquatic?

It was a tough decision to make. But in his heart he knew what he would choose…

What would you choose?