To The People Who Believe In You, Especially When You Don’t
By Aditi Ghosh
You. Your indomitable spirit. I’ve always been bewildered by your zeal.
Your relentless fervor confuses me. Just like a prism, anything that pours through you scatters rainbow hues everywhere. Submerged in their own issues, everyone swims toward the nearest shore. That’s human nature. But you rejoice the sunlight that cascades through the crystal water. You find melody in cacophony, stars in the morning sky. And although you aren’t an illusion, to me your presence is near illusory.
Your willingness — no, your happiness, your joy to embrace life amazes me. I watch you from the sidelines sometimes, when you so effortlessly prove all of my beliefs wrong. I’ve seen the sun obscure darkness and floods nourish the deprived soil. And I might believe that paradise isn’t too far away from earth.
You aren’t seeking the right answers, but you always ask the right questions. You are part of a herd that you never follow. The souls that encompass your space are intertwined, but you meander through the labyrinth of their words of wisdom, knowing there’s a better place to go.
Why do we always chase the answers so ineptly? Why do the answers matter? What can I do to make this beautiful? Have I tried enough? These are questions you compel me to think about.
No matter how dark life gets, I’ve begun to believe in the light you hang at the end of the tunnel. Where the other side is. When you said the sun would shine again, you were right. It shines every day, whether or not we see it, reminding us never to forget its regularity. When you said that affliction is always rewarded, you spoke the truth. When you said that happiness is the vicinity, your honesty overwhelmed me.
But you didn’t tell me one thing – that you were watching me, too. You kept turning around, watching me meander through the high tide. When getting deluged by the deep water is so simple, you told me to look at the sun instead. You listened with intent as I described how I perceive delight. You smiled at the multitude of facets that faced you, repeating the same things you once told me.
You. Your indomitable spirit. I will always be bewildered by your zeal.
“Right now; this is happiness. Happiness is right here,” I said.
And you reveled unconditionally in my evolution.
But you just never said one thing – “I told you so.”