Telling stories - A tale

Ok…I decided that my blog must be bilingual – I mean fully bilingual, not fake bilingual. So some posts will be in English…for no particular reason that sometimes is fun to write in English since…well English is a straightforward and powerful language. It is way poorer and unevocative compared to latin languages (not that I could write in French of Spanish, but I got a glimpse of their depth), but it has its pros!

So this is a tale. Nothing else to add.

“Once upon a time, there was a guy who lived in a small valley. The valley was nice and cozy, and he spend most of his life there. His family was living there, his friends were there and even if he knew there were other valleys outside he hardly ever moved from his place. Strangely enough, even if he was not missing anything in his nice cozy valley, the more time he spent there, the more he got bored by it. Thus, one day he decided to climb one of the hills, to see what was there. All the people he knew did not react well to the idea. Everybody was telling him how nice the valley was and that there was no point in exploring – what was he supposed to find outside? Even his girlfriend, tried to discourage him from doing so “I do not understand” she said “why you want so badly to get away from me”. This reaction puzzled the guy. “How can this people not want to go out and explore? How do they know that there is nothing better than this tiny valley out there? How do they know that those tales of bold explorers cannot be replicated by me or them?”

So he set his mind. His parents, luckily, were always supportive, no matter how unsettling they could find this decision. And so he left and after a while he came back, and then left again.

He only had climbed the closest hills, yet he found marvelous things to see and, most importantly, foreign and interesting people outside in the road and in the nearby hills. Some of them had strange behaviours and attitudes, but he soon realized that probably, his custom could have seem as weird to them. He really liked the experience, but he also realized that the world was much bigger than he could have ever imagined: some of the people he met were from incredibly distant lands and some of them had traveled much more than him. Some others were also people he was really impressed of and felt inspired to become like them. In particular one of them one day told him “ My fellow traveler, where do you thing you got? These hills are just small and easy to reach – look up and you will see the mountains.” He did as advised and saw them. And then he looked down at his home. He saw down the cozy valley and had strongly mixed feelings toward it…I was definitely homesick, but he felt scared at how small it was. It was incredible to realize how small his world was before. Nothing had changed yet nothing could have been the same again.

Bad news where not finished yet. When he got home, his girlfriend was angry because of his absence – out of the argument that took place they split up. Some of his friends were also missing – he was a away for too long. Finally many of the people he met on the road, he would not have been able to meet them ever again.

But he understood. He understood that there is always a price to pay for everything. Knowledge and freedom have a high cost, also because they bring great riches.

So he set out again. After what he saw, he could not stay in his cozy valley for long. He moved to another valley and started to work for a group of people. Work was hard but these people were bright and had a much broader perspective of the world around. They understood and even if many of them were not like him, they all were extremely bright and all of them had something to teach him. They also sent him to travel to faraway mountains and granted him access to secret places in remote areas. And he understood again. He understood that the world is not only made of geographical places but also of experiences of the places, that vary depending on the people you are with.

The guy was growing. He understood now that the world was big and complex. That people were all different, even when they seemed all similar and even when they came from the same place. He also understood that the people he worked with had a very precise and narrow perspective of the world. But the people where wise and powerful, and knew it, and sent him to meet other people to another place so that he could understand more how diverse and vast the world was.

And he set off again, for the longest trip in his life. He was thrilled but on the other hand he was pondering about his future: for how long would he have been willing to travel? How long before setting?

He decided not to ask. He wanted the destiny to unfold his path for him. Because he was not without a guide. Now he knew the mountains and the valleys. His path was not known, but he could decide for the best and that was what mattered”

The story still awaits an end. But it has a question. Did it ever occur to you to leave and do not come back as the same person you were? And did you ever realized that there was a muountain sitting in front of you that you missed out altogether?