A Picture's Worth | Perspective

Perspective

He was born on the shore of an ocean so wide and endless, that to him, it seemed to be the entirety of existence. He was born, just like anyone else is born; not knowing the meaning of anything or any word, no opinions polluting his thoughts, loving, joyful, wild and free.

As a young-ling, he never ventured far from his birthplace. Not like there were many places to go to anyways. However far he ventured, all that he had ever seen was the vastness of this limitless and mysterious ocean, and a bright orange ball that appeared so far away, that it almost made the vastness of the ocean seem like a fraction of the distance in between.

That ball always had some sort of power over all who gazed upon it, even the mighty ocean was under its control. It even marked the ocean with its own image, almost like a signature, stating its authority and ownership over it.

He never traveled much, but the beauty of this strange scenery, created by the master and the servant’s distant, yet undeniably strong relationship, begged the question that who would ever want to go elsewhere? This is where he was born, and this is where he will grow his knowledge and acknowledgment of self. That is the way it was supposed to be, and that is the way it happened.

When he finally recognized himself as an individual, he often imagined himself to be like the ocean. Calm, as if nothing is ever able to disturb his peace of mind, just like the ocean. Free, as if wherever he was, that place belonged to him, and no one was there to contest it. Vast and magnanimous, giving all that he could, for there was so much to give. It almost seemed like a waste, the presence of so much resources and nearly not enough users. And his thoughts and curiosity were just as vast, if not more, as the ocean itself.

Other times, he imagined himself to be like the sun (the name of the might ball, as he was told). There would have been none of this were the sun not shining, just like himself, for how would this eloquent sight exist had he not been living to witness it. Maybe he really was more like the sun, for he truly felt to be the master, having signed his self on the vastness of his personality. And no matter how distant he sometimes felt from it, he always stayed the master.

Not very satisfied with “maybes”, he decided to explore his own self, to finally be able to see what lies beyond the limits of his personality. And then it dawned on him, that perhaps by travelling the distance, and looking at the world from the other side, he will be able to understand who he really is.

So he prepared for the departure, and towards the unknown he departed. All this water did not bother him, for if he had to, he could swim through the rest of his life with ease. And the ocean, mysterious as it may be, was not intimidating for him. That job belonged to the sun. Even though he thought himself to be like the sun sometimes, but he didn’t really know the sun up-close and personal, did he? He only made guesses of what it ought to be.

But now that he was on his way, he would resolve this mystery once and for all. He would face the sun one on one and decide who truly the master is. “What if the outcome is not in his favor? What will become of him then?” This thought fill him with deep and terrifying fear. But he cannot allow fear to limit his vision, or freeze him in his tracks. He cannot allow a simple thought to hinder all the possible discoveries out there. If there ever was a time for him to be like the ocean, unaffected and uninfluenced by remote thoughts, it was now.

Thus he became one with the ocean, and kept swimming on and on for what seemed like a good half of his entire life. Never tired, never giving up, eyes always on the prize. But even after such long turmoil, the ocean’s other end was nowhere to be seen. This started to dampen his spirits a little bit. After all, he was not getting any younger. And when he started to feel his vitality noticeably lower than before, he decided to tune his goal.

It was already pretty eminent that he was no match for the sun, so he no longer aimed to show the sun what for. Instead, all he wanted now was to feel, even if for a moment, what it is like to be the sun. He just wanted to swim up to the place where the sun marked the ocean, and bathe in that brilliance for a while.

He carried on with all that he had got, eyes now focused on the new prize, but the prize seemed to be moving towards him with a slower pace than his demise. He felt it inside him that he was now dying, that his life was slowly leaving him but the place where sun meets the ocean seemed as far as ever.

“Maybe it is just a few strokes away” he thought to himself, “maybe I am just not seeing it clearly, after all, my vision is not what it used to be”. So he gathered all his remaining energy, and gave it a one last go. There was something special in this last effort. He felt that as he moved towards the place where sun and the ocean met, the place also slowly started moving towards him. “Almost there!” he thought, about to burst with joy, “Just a few strokes more!”…

And then, a terrifying loud crackling sound arose, as if the sky itself was torn asunder, followed by heavy thumping sounds, like massive boulders were falling from that tear in the sky. To him, it sounded like such, but in reality, it was just Ahmed, who opened the door of his room, clothed in a sports kit, reeking with sweat, pacing towards his study desk by the window.

A distant feminine voice followed all this “storm”: “Ahmed! I told you to be home before sundown.”

Ahmed: “MAA! It isn’t sundown yet! Stop yelling.”

Ma: “Well, it almost is, and I am not yelling. Hey! There’s water on your desk, just by the window in the earthen bowl you love so much.”

“Thanks Ma!” replied Ahmed, as he picked the bowl up and gulped all the water down in one go. “Can I have more?”

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This picture was taken by Ali Awais, an amazing photographer and a wonderful friend of ours. All rights to this picture are reserved by Ali Awais and we use his pictures at A Thousand Words after full disclosure and consent. Follow him on Instagram @ali_awaiss