«The steepness of the trail had pushed his body to the
brink of exhaustion, so he stopped, and sat down in a big grey rock. At that point,
the silence was so overwhelming, that the burden of the loneliness he felt
inside his heart began to overpower his thoughts.»
By Raquel R.
in Short Story number 5
«The phoenix hope, can wing her way through the desert skies, and still
defying fortune’s spite; revive from ashes and rise.»
«He gathered all his strength, adjusted his actions to
the new circumstances and resumed his walk.»
By Raquel
R. in Short Story number 5
«Do not let your fire go out,
spark by irreplaceable spark, in the hopeless swamps of the approximate, the
not-quite, the not-yet, the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul
perish, in lonely frustration for the life you deserved, but have never been able
to reach. Check your road and the nature of your battle. The world you desired
can be won, it exists, it is real, it is possible, it’s yours.»
«Those were the moments when he almost let despair
overcome his heart. Yet, his unquestionable faith on what laid ahead, over the
horizon, did not allow him to give up.»
«The first contact with this new reality was disastrous to him. The
deceiving terrain hid many dangers which needed to be carefully anticipated in
order to be avoided. Lacking this capacity, he was often mislead by the
apparent solidness of the path, only to be betrayed by some unsteady rocks, which
made him fell on his knees time and time again.»
By Raquel R. in Short Story number 5
«Once we’re thrown off our habitual
paths, we think all is lost, but it’s only here that the new and the good
begins. As long as there's life, there's happiness. There's much, much still to come.»
«As he progressed in this
unforgiving road, he concentrated his strength in each step he took. During the
course of his long journey he learned that, when times of trouble hovered on
the horizon, the best way to overcome the obstacles was by focusing one’s
attention on small details and diverts one’s thoughts from the big picture.
Otherwise it would be harder to maintain the faith to keep on going.»
By Raquel R. in Short Story number 5
« The compass points you true north but does not warn you of the
obstacles and swamps along the way.»
Abraham Lincoln
North Atlantic awarded short film by Bernardo Nascimento
«On this bare and deserted road, fragments of what
were once parts of living organisms remained scattered along the road,
exhibiting clear signs of the erosion caused by the exposure to the elements,
like statements of the fragility of life and a visible testimony of the
relentlessness of time.»
By Raquel R. in Short Story number 5
«Contemplation often makes life miserable. We should
act more, think less, and stop watching ourselves live.»
Short Story number 5: Inspired by the song «Bird of Sorrow» by Glen
Hansard from the solo albumRhythm and Repose.
The soft glow of the morning light revealed the tiny
specks of dust lingering in the air, as his feet slowly stepped on the fallow
soil. Thin cracks crisscrossed the dry ground, in a repetitive pattern, extending
far beyond the horizon. In this bare and deserted road, fragments of what were once
parts of living organisms remained scattered along the road, exhibiting clear
signs of the erosion caused by the exposure to the elements, like statements of
the fragility of life and a visible testimony of the relentlessness of time.
As he progressed in this unforgiving road, he
concentrated his strength in each step he took. During the course of his long
journey he learned that, when times of trouble hovered on the horizon, the best
way to overcome the obstacles was by focusing one’s attention on small details
and diverts one’s thoughts from the big picture. Otherwise it would be harder
to maintain the faith to keep on going.
After a few
miles travelling on the desolate road he noticed small changes on the pattern
of the landscape. The once arid and flat soil, slowly gave way to a harsh and
uneven road, paved with rocks of all shapes and sizes and full of treacherous
holes.
The first contact with this new reality was disastrous
to him. The deceiving terrain hid many dangers which needed to be carefully
anticipated in order to be avoided. Lacking this capacity, he was often mislead
by the apparent solidness of the path, only to be betrayed by some unsteady
rocks, which made him fell on his knees time and time again. Those were the
moments when he almost let despair take over his heart. Yet, his unquestionable
faith on what laid ahead, over the horizon, did not allow him to give up. He
gathered all his strength, adjusted his actions to the new circumstances and
resumed his walk.
The first rays
of the rising sun indicated that a new day had begun. By that time, he was about
to reach the summit of a rocky hill. The steepness of the trail had pushed his
body to the brink of exhaustion, so he stopped, and sat down on a big grey
rock. At that point, the silence was so overwhelming, that the weight of loneliness
began to overpower his thoughts. On those occasions, he clung to the certainty
that he was not alone in this journey. Many others were on the way, and like
him, struggled to remain faithful to the hope of a happy ending. That stubborn
resilience was the tenuous but decisive line that separated those who survived and
those who succumbed.
Feeling reinvigorated, he was preparing to stand up
again, when something caught his attention. In the middle of this
lifeless realm a delicate plant strived to break out and survive the harsh
desolation. He approached the little wonder and engaged in the delight of admiring
this miracle of nature. This inspiring vision, made him realize, that small
details, like this one, often hold within amazing revelations that, if embraced
with humbleness, might teach us priceless lessons and point us the right direction.
This decisive moment, gave him the strength that he
needed to carry on with his journey. Slowly but utterly he progressed in the
terrain and finally reached the summit of the rocky hill. From where he was
standing, a new reality unfolded before his eyes, and what he saw far exceeded
his expectations. The grey and harsh landscape gave way to a luxuriant and
green valley. He closed his eyes and recognized that all the adversities he had
endured throughout his perilous journey, were not in vain, for he had finally
reached his destination. That conviction made the moment even more precious to
him. He was sure that from now on everything would be alright. For now, his
journey was over but he knew that others will follow. When that moment arrived
again, he would be ready to leave, carrying hope in his heart.
«The hardships he had been enduring and the roads he
had been travelling allowed him to acknowledge that we all can be happy with
much less than we are made to believe. But, unfortunately, we are too busy
trying to accomplish the goals imposed upon us to notice that everything we
need is inside us.»
By Raquel R. in Short Story number 4
«Challenging the meaning of life is the truest expression of the state
of being human.»
«But the more they tried to break his spirit and
forced him to fit in the pattern, the more he felt compelled to drift in
uncharted lands and refuse to follow the one way direction sign.»
By Raquel R. in Short Story number 4
«The most important
kind of freedom is to be what you really are. You trade in your reality for a
role. You trade in your sense for an act. You give up your ability to feel, and
in exchange, put on a mask. There can't be any large-scale revolution until there's
a personal revolution, on an individual level. It's got to happen inside
first.»
