The snowy Cappadocian peaks, winter in central Anatolia (Turkey) … cold and beautiful as some women in my life (of which this is not the right time or the right forum for a gentleman to talk about).
But the story today takes place in an even colder place, in a remote part of our awesome and colourful planet, where the queen of the snow reigns almighty. The home of those small but very smartly dressed, flightless birds we call (always with a broad smile on our face) penguins … so cute!
This is a short story of discovery that begins on a bitterly cold, but crisp, morning in Antarctica. Just another day for a tiny wee penguin that opens her eyes to the world as the sun raises at dawn, painting with intense oranges and reds a landscape otherwise dominated by whites, blacks and blues. A world of fast running clouds falling off beyond the horizon. Of violent, blinding blizzards one day and incredibly clear, blue skies the next.
Today, as our little friend opens her eyes, millions of lovely cotton-like snowflakes lazily dance on their way to the ground. She is one of a countless number of penguins, all of them staying closely together to share some warmth. They all move slowly, with clumsy, swinging steps and shaking their small wings as if to friendly greet their fellow penguins. But today, our little friend’s attention is somewhere else. She is looking up in the sky at one of her flying cousins up there, confidently sailing the air currents in the invisible hands of the wind.
Why – she wonders – cannot I fly? What is the point of being a bird, if my wings will never take me up in the sky? Am I not the most miserable bird ever?
***
But as these sad thoughts fall upon her mind, the whole community starts to march. Thousands of black and white, little penguins in unison. Step by step.
This is bizarre! – she thinks in her mind. Why are we moving? Where are we going?
Seconds become minutes. Minutes become hours. But before the day was over, the white immensity of the Antarctic is magically transformed into something else. The miles and miles of white quietness are replaced by a cold, deep blue, moving ocean. Her eyes open wide in wonder and her mind is flooded with a million thoughts none of which she can put into words.
Suddenly, as strong as a pair of invisible hands, her instinct is to dive into the changing sea. And as her beak hits the water and her body is engulfed in the icy cold water, all the sadness she felt in the morning disappears. Her wings are magically transformed into most efficient fins propelling her and making her fly underwater. She speeds through the water, dancing with all those fleeing little fish swimming away from her, and then and there everything becomes clear in her mind. Like a ray of sunlight breaking through the fog … he has been created to fly as a bird, but to fly underwater!
***
We all feel down sometimes, when the purpose of things escape us, when we can’t find our place in life. But don’t give up. Think that somewhere out there, there is a big ocean waiting for us all.
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