- 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
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