… a thing of one resolved relationship.
A colourfully beautiful shell filled with a gas lighter than air. A balloon. Hovering above the surface of the earth. It doesn’t even know it can fly. Tied to a string, he thinks the string is just lifting him up and allowing him to drift to safety. He doesn’t even realise that if he just unhooked himself from it, he would swim, soar and shuffle.
Occasionally the wind blows harder and the balloon rises higher. He then sees how beautiful and unlimited the world is. He wants higher, but a sudden tug pulls him abruptly downwards.
“String. Let’s soar. We will experience space together,” the balloon said. “Strings don’t fly. We stay here where we are” – replied the string. And the balloon continued to drift, sensing only that there was more than space at the string’s reach. But that was all he knew, and the string reinforced his belief by saying: “Thanks to me, you will not be carried away by the wind, you are safe. You won’t escape anywhere.” The balloon swayed in unison and persisted with the string, pleased that such a compatible duo of them. After all, he would surely have perished without the string. He would still fly somewhere from where there is no return, where dangers lurk. Time passed and the balloon directed its eyes upwards more and more often. One day he saw other balloons. They flew with their strings high and joyful. “Look at them,” – said the balloon to the string. “And yet you can. Let’s fly, just like them.” “Easy for you to say.” – replied the string. “And you have your dreams of flying and you are not afraid to fly because you are a balloon. If I were the balloon, I would fly. But I’m a string that can’t fly. If you leave me, I won’t even be able to float like I am now and I will be very unhappy and angry with you.”
Balloon mused and felt something. Something very still undefined, and yet he felt that he was close to touching something very important. He didn’t want to leave the string, because he was very attached to it, and yet he longed more and more for a different life.
And the day came when the balloon dared: “Twine, I have decided to untie myself from you. I wish to fly. And even though I’m sad that you don’t want to fly with me, I want to do it.” The rope began to jerk furiously, while lumbering the balloon. Despair, anger and disappointment gripped the string. He found a piece of fence firmly hammered into the ground and wove his coils tightly around it. He was so afraid that without the balloon he would cease to exist.
The balloon sagged a little and settled down. He apologised to the string for his ridiculous idea and decided to make it up to him. However, the harder he tried, the stronger the string twisted around the fence boards. But the day came when the determined balloon cut the string off in one violent movement.
At first he was terrified by the space and freedom of movement. But then he felt the lightness, the freedom to float and saw the beauty of the world around him. And he was surrounded by other balloons. Beautiful and free, filled with happiness and peace that is lighter than air.
The balloon now flies in the skies. And only occasionally does he become overwhelmed with sadness and nostalgia when he sees such balloons flying together with a string. A string that is not afraid of space, of freedom, or even of the fact that it is the balloon that lifts it up. “And yet there are strings that enjoy their nature and at the same time realise the dream of flying,” thought the balloon. And it moves on with its journey through the skies, missing its former string less and less, having chosen a life with a fence.
An election day in harmony with yourself I wish you
Soul
PS I wrote the story on 4 November 2018 (the balloon no longer misses his former string, his life is so beautiful).
Photo page: depositephotos
