5983. Świąteczny czas (VIII) // Z oazy (CDX)

Jeszcze tylko chwila i będę mogła zamknąć świąteczny czas. Odłożyć końcówkę ro­ku 2025. Odstawić na półkę otrzymane gwiazdkowo książki.

W moim czytelniczym uniwersum dwieście jeden książek później, mając jedno­cześ­nie z tyłu głowy, że czwarta książka Autora wciąż na mnie czeka. Czeka, bo nie jest o tej wspaniałej parze.

Tej książki nie trzeba czytać od deski do deski. Można otworzyć w do­wol­nym miej­scu, rzucić okiem tylko na jedną stronę i… gotowe! Jest się ugotowanym, to znaczy poruszonym… do trzewi.

‘Who are you...deep inside?’ asked Big Panda.
Tiny Dragon looked out over the crumbling ruins.
‘I don’t remember.’

🖇

‘It’s hard to find your way looking behind you,’ said Big Panda.
‘The path forward begins in the present.’

🖇

‘Does my past control my future?’ asked Tiny Dragon.
‘It doesn't have to,’ said Big Panda. ‘It’s you who steers
the boat, not the wake it leaves behind.’

🖇

Bringing too much of the past with you can make it
very difficult to move forwards.

🖇

‘Do you ever wonder what might have been?’
asked Tiny Dragon.
‘No,’ said Big Panda.
‘There is a peace in knowing it could not
have happened any other way.’

🖇

So much ruin, so much loss,
yet still...so much beauty.

From the ancient ruins a tree took root.
Even in loss, life finds a way.

🖇

Big Panda took Tiny Dragon's hand in his huge paw.

‘It is a wonderful thing to enjoy this world, to try
new things, to push yourself, and succeed and fail.
But none of these things will make you any more
than you are right now.

Growth is not about becoming someone else,
but unfolding who you’ve always been.’

🖇

‘How are you so kind to everyone we meet?’
asked Tiny Dragon.

‘I try to remember that each person is
facing a struggle I cannot see,’ said Big Panda.
‘Then it’s not so difficult.’

🖇

‘I’ll never get it,’ huffed Tiny Dragon,
about to smash it on the ground.

‘Peace doesn’t come from avoiding things that
make you upset or angry,’ said Big Panda,
‘but from facing those things again and again,
and doing your best to choose peace each time.’

🖇

‘I know you’re scared,’ said Big Panda.
‘You cannot help that. But you have chosen not to let
fear stop your journey and that shows great courage.’

🖇

Life is like a pot of tea.
Sometimes it’s too much for one person.
Share it if you can.

🖇

‘How is it you never seem worried?’ asked Tiny Dragon.

‘I have worried about many things in my life,’
said Big Panda, ‘and few of them ever came to pass.
When you realize that, it makes it much easier to let
the world play out as it wants to.’

Tiny Dragon took a deep breath and felt the beginnings
of a new faith in the world as he stepped out into
the light of day.

🖇

Tiny Dragon searched and searched
but couldn’t find
what he was looking for.

‘Perhaps it’s already inside you?’
suggested Big Panda.

🖇

A leaf never falls in the wrong place.  

🖇

Tiny Dragon was alone,
but he did not distract himself.
Instead, he sat with himself,
and slowly but surely,
began to find himself.

🖇

‘I wish I had a shell to hide in sometimes,’
said Tiny Dragon.

‘It’s very useful, said the tortoise,
but I’ve found that, now and then, you have to stick
your neck out to get where you want to go.’

🖇

What seems hopeless one day
can look slightly different the next.

James Norbury, A Beautiful World,
Michael Joseph, London 2025.
(wyróżnienie własne)

‘This place is unbelievable’, gasped Tiny Dragon.

(tamże)