Tag: black and white

Left Behind

Left Behind

There are two ways of looking at this photo. Look at it for a moment and let your mind wander. Where do you find yourself? 

The scene was deliberately choreographed. The blur was intentional. The monotone was effectual. 

It’s a bit like that social experiment of whether you think that a glass of water is half-filled or half-empty, isn’t it. Even the title of this photo can be a little misleading. It could go either way. 

Do you see – feel – solitude and desertion? Or do you feel the exhilaration of adventure and hope? 

I’ll tell you the story from both angles and I’ll leave you to decide which one you want to go with today. No matter which one you choose, it’s a fact of life that sadness and happiness, together make a full circle. 

These slippers belong to two people you may have known, who are no longer with us. They might have left unexpectedly, without warning, in a hurry. Deserted the scene. Abandoned life altogether. All we have left of them is the memory of their footprints. The marks that they left in our hearts and souls. It’s only then that we tend to truly appreciate their value and what they honestly meant to us. It’s part of human nature that we constantly struggle to overcome, to appreciate what we have at hand and not take anything or anyone for granted. Life is short, often unexpectedly short, especially to those who mean so much to us. We have a persistent snapshot in our minds of our time with them. And we keep recalling them, fixating on them over and over again, fearful that the blur in the snapshot takes over and we lose sight of their value, their connection, them altogether. Left behind. That’s what we leave behind. The mark we make, the memories we shared and the feelings we evoked. 

Look again. 

This time, look differently. 

These slippers were left behind by two adventurers, who didn’t care less about taking the weight of the world with them. Their mantra – travel light, explore hard and learn from new experiences. Barefoot and carefree, diving (literally) into a new world. Seeing what others are afraid to see makes them grow in spirit and mind. Diving deep into the ocean, they experience a wonderful world of sea life. They are not gone for long, physically, but they are transported to another level metaphorically. When the mind is more concerned about expanding and growing, the material world becomes a blur. The slippers represent materialism, and to leave that behind, takes courage and a bold sense of adventure in order to survive. These slippers are testament to their sense of survival, surging through the road less travelled mindfully in order to leave a positive mark in this world. There is no sadness here, just elation in searching and finding true happiness in what life is really all about. Rising above all that weighs them down and prevents them from reaching their true potential.

Which story will you choose today?

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Bare bones

Bare Bones

Reunion (true story) – 

I glimpsed a stonewashed picture
of a once youthful you,
in my mind’s eye,
from very long ago,
trying to gather steady form,
to the soundtrack of my stable pace,
your image trying hard to subsist,
in full-form and all its detailed glory,
despite the prevailing buildings and cars speeding by –
distractions amiss. 

When there ahead of me,
with not another in sight,
your figure looming,
looking straight at me,
and me at you,
my pace slackening,
and your timeworn depiction –
now ageless momentarily –
came hurtling back at me,
in a sepia-transformed presence and
a tunnel-visioned reality of
a surreal melting of buildings and vehicles
our footsteps stop.
Our eyes lock.
Our paths meet.
And here we are once again. 

In a moment, things can change from vivid colour to clear-cut laser-focused black and white. It’s like having x-ray vision and you can see the bare bones of reality. The past merges into the present and a full, comprehensive picture is formed. Have you ever been in that situation? Compare a snapshot of a memory to something you encounter today, whether it be a person or a place. If you’re lucky it will feel like a new dimension suddenly appears before you. It gives depth and makes all the pieces to a puzzle come together. It all falls into place and makes sense. Most times, however, we’re not so fortunate.

But it’s like a magical momentous opportunity when it does happen. And it allows you to experience a surrealism that can’t be explained.

I met a very old friend recently whom I hadn’t seen from a lifetime ago. Think quarter of a century ago. Our reunion was exactly how I described at the start of this post. I was attending a work event to which I knew she was also going to be there but I hadn’t spoken or seen her since our university days long long ago. My friend was exactly how I remembered her. She hadn’t changed a bit. If nostalgia can be personified, this was it. Not only did it bring back pleasant memories of carefree days, it helped me remember how I was back then. It was an honest recollection of a trueness to me, which makes it all the more meaningful if the other person remembers you too as you were back then.

X-rays reveal another dimension to our existence. Our bones are essentially the mechanics that keep us going. We keep on moving and relying on these fascinating mechanisms that we take for granted. And in the midst of the multitudes of shades and shadows of colour and hues, its fitting that x-rays are in black and white, revealing our bare bones in all honesty and simplicity. Just like a reunion reveals it all in an instant. It either all makes pleasant sense with a familiarity that brings nostalgia and joy or else it ends up being an unnecessary confusion to an altered sense of reality.

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