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Gladness
You are finally able to see the world around you. And oh how the world scares you. People cry, people die. People all around you are in pain and are afraid. Starving children, alone in the world. Desperate parents with small children in their arms and blood on the faces. Smoke, bombs, guns, fighting, screaming, crying. All of this and more tear at your senses and blind your vision with the sting of tears.
You run, not knowing why or where. The pain is too much to handle. You cannot save the world, nor can you change the deeds and horrors brought unto the world. This knowledge hurts. More tears, more screams, no more air, no more sanity.
One terrible scene molds into the next. One sorrowful escape of breathe fades into another. Endlessly, you see the world crumble around you. Is there nothing bright? Nothing happy? Can nothing lighten the hearts, save the endlessly dying souls?
That’s when you find it. The field. Row after endless row of flowers and bright, healthy green grass replace the rows of bodies and tombs. Wind lightly kisses your cheeks and you smile as the sun warms your bare back. Wiping your tears away, you spin around. A small child stands along, picking flowers, humming to herself.
As you walk closer, you see a long scar across her right arm, yet she shows no sign of caring. You are puzzled and ask of her her reasons and doubts. Her worries and troubles. Her fears and nightmares. You ask her why she is alone and why she still smiles.
“Am I alone? I did not notice. I see you here, and it makes me glad. Do I have worries? Nightmares? Doubts? If so I am not aware of them. I feel the sweet air enter my lungs and I am glad. I hear the bright music which I sing and I am glad. I know that I am loved by a family somewhere in the world and I am glad. I see the men and women of the world trying to change the fate of all those who seem so sad and afraid, and I am glad. I see the beauty of life, and I am glad. Are you not glad?”
With a smile you look about you. You see a tree where a single bird perched, singing happily and hopefully. And in your mind you see your family, dead and alive, smiling and happy. And you reply that yes, you are glad indeed, because you know you are alive and you know that that is worth everything in the world.