The girl who was different

She doesn’t think like us,” said her brothers. “She feels differently,”
said her sisters. And her parents would remark, “Yes, somehow she is different from the others,” and they would worry every once in a while.
It wasn’t that she was lazier or cheekier than the other children, and not at all because she did things that were forbidden. No, on that
count she was not different at all. It was just that sometimes she said “no” when all the rest shouted “yes”, or she played with those whom no one else would play with, something many people considered most inappropriate. Sometimes she would say, “I love you,” to people she liked, and that particularly was not liked by some, because no one had said “I love you” to them for a long time. So they used to make fun of her and look at each other meaningfully when she was around. After all, devotion to truth has its limits, they would say.
The years passed and her brothers and sisters got married. The girl also found a nice man and lived with him and her children not very far away, but still far enough to be able to bear the mocking of the others. One day some new men came into the country and ordered the people to destroy their flowers and all the flowering trees because their beauty was keeping everyone from work. So from then on they were forbidden. Others ordered that all birds be caught because those who listened to their song for long would turn into dreamers and no longer be fit to do work.
And because the girl who was different said “no” to the men and their orders, they built a high wall around her house and garden with a single tiny entrance. After all, as they were never tired of repeating, they were not inhuman. They only had everyone's best interests at heart, and it was better to keep away from those who were different. They then forbade the people to stock food and to enjoy the fruits of their labour because these were weaknesses that would only make them lazy and lethargic and cause them to stray off the right path.
At first everyone was very happy and enthusiastic because finally here was someone who obviously knew what needed to be done, and everyone was eager to work. But then, not so long after, someone knocked on the little door in the wall and a child entered the garden of the girl who was different. It took a deep breath of the clear, fresh air, delighted in the song of the
birds and drank in the colourful brilliance of the flowers. “How nice it is here.” it said, “We have destroyed everything.” When it sadly turned to leave, the girl gave it one of the bright flowers to take along.
In the next days more people came, all wanting to hear the birds sing and see the flowers in bloom. The girl gave each one of them a flower. “But now you have none left,” said the old man to whom she had just gifted the last flower. “Don’t worry, they’ll grow again,” laughed the girl.
He walked towards the small door with slow, heavy steps, then turned around
once again and asked, “Why are you doing this?”
Because I love you!answered the girl who was different.
For Claudia W



Claudia´s Poems









© P. Eitner