The Light By: Christine Schnell

	It wasn’t as if the world was coming to an end.  I mean, come on, life goes on no 
matter what happens to any one of us.  But what if that wasn’t true?  What if one person 
really did make a difference?  What could happen to the world then?  The life and death 
situation that that person faced wouldn’t mean just the life of one person, but an entire 
world.  Literally having the world rest on your shoulders could be a real heavy 
responsibility.  Hmm can I press another cliché into this paragraph?


	The world is full of clichés and metaphors and what not.  Don’t count your 
chickens before they’re hatched my mother would tell me all the time.  I never gave the 
saying any thought until I actually had been in a chicken coup and saw that not all the 
eggs did hatch baby chicks.  Well there’s one egg in particular that did indeed hatch.  It 
hatched something wondrous and grand, so much so that it hurt to look upon it.  This was 
no God, no divine force, it was just a splendid looking being.  Neither human (nor 
chicken) nor any other type of being ever seen before.  It was beautiful beyond belief.  


	I can hardly now describe to you what this being looked like because if I did you 
would think me not only insane but a liar as well.  For what you would see once you look 
upon this wondrous creature would be your own definition of beautiful, something which 
could be completely different from my own.  For no two people could look upon this 
hatchling and see the same thing.  Beauty after all is in the eye of the beholder.  


	The world as I was saying was in the hands of this tiny baby, but no one knew it, 
not even the child.  It was indeed hatched from an egg out in the middle of no where and 
so it had no one to teach it, to tell it of its gift.  To hold it and nourish it.  No one and 
nothing to love it.  It was alone.


	That is not to say that it couldn’t survive.  It could for it held something more than 
the world.  Worldly knowledge was also another gift it possessed.  It didn’t know that the 
knowledge it had was everything that this world could hold, for that was just a spec in its 
brain, for there was so much more inside of it that could never be explained.  It sat 
without a care by a small pool of water.  It drank and feed off of nearby berries and 
lavished in the warmth of the planet around it.


	It grew slowly at first, gathering in the warmth and the little light around it like a 
plant.  The water seeped through its body and filled its heart with joy.  The berries gave 
color it its eyes, for it did have eyes, so blue they looked deeper than the ocean at its 
deepest.  Its eyes were its only humanly feature that it possessed.  For the eyes are the 
window to its soul.  That is why every being has eyes, so that another being could look 
upon it and if it tried hard enough could see what was truly inside the other being.  This 
one, not having any one else to look upon looked at its reflection in the pond.  It was not 
scared by its own beauty.  No, it could never overwhelm itself, for to itself it looked 
ordinary.  There was nothing special about its appearance.  Nothing was different in it 
from any other thing it had seen.  Of course it had seen no other beings to truly compare 
its beauty with, and so delusioned it looked upon itself.  Its eyes were deeper than any 
beings anywhere in the galaxy, and there was much behind them.  If a person were to look 
hard enough trying to see this creatures soul, they would never find it, they would become 
so enamored they’d become lost in the glory behind the  shell that is this being.


	I exaggerate not.  For I once looked upon them and went for so long that I nearly 
starved to death.  If it were not for this creature realizing what had happened  and helping 
me to find myself, I would have died.  Ah but I have digressed.  Let us return to the 
creature sitting before the pond.


	As I mentioned it had never looked upon another being and so became very 
interested in its own reflection.  While any other being would see its beauty it could not 
nor did it wish to, which by the way was the only reason everyone else saw it as a 
beautiful thing.  It showed them what they wished to see.  


	Life and this world is so full of evil, this it did know, that it could not stand 
having anything around it be evil, and thus in its presence everything was peaceful and 
beautiful.  This is the power one has when it holds the world at its fingertips.  Luckily this 
little being knew how fragile the world was and how fragile itself was, so being beautiful 
was a very good defense.


	Or was it?  It was sitting there minding its own business, playing with the puddle 
making its own reflection ripple and twisted, in a good way of course, when the first 
creature that it was to encounter approached it from behind.  This grizzly bear saw the 
light from its birth and was attracted to it.  Perhaps it would be something for it to eat?  
Nonetheless the bear approached and as soon as the bear was close enough to look upon 
it, it saw its beauty and immediately fell in love.  The bear had no idea that this being was 
not one of its kind, nor did it want to mate with it.  The bear simply wanted to bask in it’s 
glory and be with it for all time.  To hug and to hold and call it... Well never mind.  So 
this bear, so enamored on this new being crept forward without gathering the being’s 
attention.  Slowly it crept forward and moved paw by paw forward until it was right 
behind it.  The bear didn’t even breath, it was so awed by this little one.  So amazed by 
what it was seeing in fact that the bear had to taste it to believe it.  One big lick slimed the 
poor creatures back and lifted it off of it’s knoll and  it landed in the water, well at least it 
was cleaned of the slobber.  The creature not knowing what to think of this disturbance 
squealed and splashed about hoping to scare off this large intruder.  The bear however 
thought it’s squeal more like a cute squeak and thought it’s splashing was an invitation to 
play with it.  So the bear did what was natural to it and swiped at the water drenching the 
poor little creature even more.


	Oh this was so fun for the bear.  What a joy to see the little lovely thing splash 
about having fun.  Well why not join it?  Of course the pond wasn’t really big enough for 
the both of them.  Actually it wasn’t big enough for the bear, but that didn’t stop it.  Oh 
no, it pranced all the way into the water splashing about even more.  And the little one?  
Well it ran for it’s little life.   The bear didn't see it run however, for it was having too 
much fun splashing about.


	Indeed, how was one to find it’s place in life with the howling of a bear disturbing 
it’s thoughts?  The hatchling roamed about the grassy land for a time encountering many 
strange and wondrous creatures there.  Each giving it a very similar response.  Love me, 
hug me, hold me.  That was all they wanted.  Not one asked what the poor little creature 
wanted in return, they just assumed the creature wanted to please them.  Was that what it 
wanted?  It didn’t even know itself.  It knew what made the world tick but didn’t know 
it’s own mind.  What a complex little life it had and was only born an hour before hand.  
Then again didn’t we all go through this in the first hours after our birth?  We just didn’t 
know it.


	So now it walked with a trail of five or six creatures, all different, walking single 
file behind it.  Each took turns being the one to walk directly behind it, so that each could 
bask equally in it’s beauty.  Along the way the little creature would eat and grow, and so 
now it wasn’t quite so little anymore.  It was in fact quite big now, not quite as big as the 
bear, who by the way had seen the trail of creatures and caught up with them so that it 
could continue looking at its new found friend.  The bear knew its place though and knew 
the other animals were fragile and so it walked a good pace behind them.


	They walked for miles and the line behind the creature grew so that now its 
following was nearly a mile long and it now was bigger than the bear.  This scared none 
of the animals off though, for they knew a thing with such beauty as this could never hurt 
them.  The being however wasn’t sure.  It was afraid for all its little entourage.  They had 
no idea why they were following this beautiful thing, where it would lead them, or what it 
would do.  They were all blinded by its beauty and literally dumbstruck by it.  It could 
think of no reason for them to be enamored by it, for it still thought of itself as ordinary.  
Yet they followed.  It shrugged, figuratively speaking, and moved on.  It had no control 
over these beings, or so it thought, and they could do as they willed.  If they willed to 
walk behind it for no reason, well that was their wish.


	As it went it ate and drank.  As it fed it grew larger and larger still.  Hundreds, no 
thousands of creatures, large and small, human and non, saw its beauty, saw its light, for 
it did outpour light  from the very core of its being.  It was truth and peace and love all 
wrapped up, and this is the light and life that all those were attracted to.  All wanted it, 
but no one could come close to having it for their own.  


	The creature, knew now that this is what it was about, for as it grew it became 
more aware of its own knowledge.  It knew everything and so it could not learn anything, 
it just could become more aware and in that way it would learn.  It “learned” that all 
creatures large and small would follow it, all would want to have a piece of it for their 
own.  It was everything they had ever wished for and more.


	Yet with all its knowledge there was one thing it didn’t know.  Why with all its 
infinite power, infinite beauty, infinite infiniteness, could it not see this light for itself?  
Why could it not feel its own love?  Why could it not know and see what these others all 
around it saw?


	It fed and it grew and it moved on, not knowing what its own secret was.  It lived 
and it walked, it occasionally looked behind itself and sure enough they were still there 
and growing in number.  It didn’t take long before the singing began.  It was quite at first, 
starting with the smallest creatures and soon boomed among all to the howling of the 
wolves to the loudest crys of the birds .  The creature knew they did this to get its 
attention.  They wanted it to turn so they could catch the smallest glimpse of its glory.  It 
would not, for it didn’t want to disappoint them.  It was an ordinary thing and if they were 
to truly look upon it they would see that, or so it thought.


	There came a time when our friend had gorged itself so full that it was larger than 
the largest living thing on the planet.  Larger still than anything on the planet.  So much 
so that its beauty could be seen by creatures hundreds of miles aware, but it had grown so 
bright and so lovely that it hurt one’s eyes to look upon it.  This saddened the creature and 
its following, for they could no longer have each other.  The poor creature felt so empty 
now.


	This was the moment of realization.  The moment to exceed all moments, the time 
that which the creature finally realized its purpose.  For it had never truly been happy.  It 
wanted to be but it couldn’t for it didn’t know how with all its beauty it could find one so 
equal as itself to make it happy.  It realized now that it bit off an entire tree top that it is 
not its beauty that these things wanted to bask in.  


	With the second bite of the tree the creature grew so large that it was too large for 
the planet to hold and it began to float up and away from the world and all of its little 
friends.  It waved good-bye and the small beings waved back singing an enchanting song.  
As it floated higher and higher it began to sing as well and their song together echoed 
throughout the cosmos ringing out on all other worlds in all other galaxies.  This filled the 
creature with such happiness and such love that it glowed brighter than it ever had before 
and it kept growing and kit kept glowing until it became so huge that it burst.


	Now this is not a bad thing, for this is what it learnt it had to do to truly be happy.  
For on that world where all the animals had followed it and all other worlds bits and 
pieces of the light fell in orbs.  Each of these orbs rained down onto each of the creatures 
and was absorbed by them and created a wondrous thing inside of each of each of these 
beings, from the smallest ant to the largest whale.  Each received a piece of the lovely 
creature, to hold in its heart and love always.  The singing never stopped, it grew quiet 
but it went on in that little piece each of us was given, if you sit quietly and are patient 
you will hear it.  That is the gift it had given us, which gave it so much joy to share.  It is 
the love and beauty and joy in each of our hearts.


	And the creature you ask?  Oh it is still alive and you can see it everyday.  It is 
hard to look right at it, for its light and beauty may blind you, but it is there up in the sky 
for all to see and share.  We not only bask in it, but it basks in our beauty as well.  Oh it is 
saddened by all the cruel things that go on, but it knows, for it knows everything, that a 
piece of it lies in each of us.  That each of us can feel it and will know how to do the right 
thing in the end.


	It does not disappear at night, it just goes elsewhere where others can see it better 
and enjoy its beauty.  So look deep inside yourself and see the beauty that it brings, than 
look to the sky in the middle of the day and thank that nameless creature for giving you 
the light and life to live with love in your heart..