Waiting
Once there was a family of acrobats. There was a father, a mother, their son and two daughters. The entire family worked for a circus, performing on a high-wire. Night after night they leapt and balanced far above the ground. They loved their art, and they were very happy.
Then something terrible happened. One night at the climax of their performance, the youngest daughter slipped on the landing of a jump. The son leapt after her, grabbing for her hands, but also he lost his balance. In doing so he disturbed the wire and sent the mother and the other son tumbling to the ground.
The man’s entire family was killed.
He stopped eating. He stopped talking. But he didn’t stop training. Silent and withdrawn, he would walk the high wire alone when no one else was in the circus tent.
Some months later, the man approached the manager of the circus and told him that he had a new act, a solo act. The manager was extremely surprised, but asked no questions. That night the man began to perform on the high wire again.
Eventually the manager could not contain his curiosity. After a brilliant performance one evening, after the applause had died down, the manager came to the man back stage. “Why,” he asked, “why do you keep doing this thing which killed your whole family?”
The man smiled. “Because,” he said, “everything else is just waiting.”
February 4th, 2009 at 4:19 pm
i want to help u in something
March 13th, 2009 at 11:08 am
Sad and lovely and good.