The Editor

Riddle me this: the darkness is more beautiful than the light, the rocky road is more beautiful than the wide path on the plains, the path that lets you walk beside the beautiful flowers.

Scrutiny

What's the first thing on your mind when you open your eyes? What's the last thing on your mind before you shut your eyes and let sleep pull you in? What do you dream of when lying there in the darkness? At that moment when your mind should be rested and your subconscious mind is having the say. Are you dreaming about tomorrow? Are you thinking about today and how it could have been were things different? Are you smiling at a good memory? Are you absorbed in the darkness, scared that it will engulf you?

I bet you are scared of being in the darkness but who switched off the lights? Life beat you down and you were too tired to stand up. Instead of fighting you shut off hope. You shut your eyes because you could no longer see clearly. So who really switched off the lights? Did someone force your hand or did you choose to? Did you have a choice or did someone tie you down and then left you in the darkness? Look right through your deepest thoughts. Open what you shut down because it was too hard a question to answer, because it was too painful a situation to deal with and answer the real questions!

Reality

We all want to be remembered. Whether as the person who went gracefully into the good night or the person who carried the weight of the world on their shoulders, that's a choice we get to make all by ourselves. Somebody once said that letting the accident swallow up the essence is a tragedy greater than death. People say our dreams define us but that screams deceit in a realistic world. In my opinion, how we fulfill those dreams defines us.

Achieving our dreams while shutting our eyes to the way we get there is allowing the accident to swallow up the essence. Well someone might argue that the end justifies the means. The question is do you want the choices you made all day put you awake all night? Would you rather stay awake when you are asleep because your dreams have gotten bizarre? Laugh now, cry later? Well, I don't know about you but I believe the reality of life is alternating episodes of tears and joy.

Writer's Perspective

So many questions asked so I guess I will answer them first and hopefully, you will also hold up your end of the bargain. Every day before I sleep I think about something good, a good memory to smile about. I dream about some way in which tomorrow can end up better than today.

Who switched off the lights? Oh, I did. Why? Because the night was beautiful and I needed to see the moon, I needed to count the stars, I needed to see a million fireflies light up my world as I fell asleep. I did not shut off hope, no I hoped against hope. I did not stand up when I was knocked down because I needed to look up and see the shooting star, I needed to make a wish. I'm living on a prayer so I needed a minute to say it. Am I scared? To the core, but the last time I fed my fears I couldn't shut my eyes because my dreams were no longer dreams but rather horrific visions. I couldn't smile anymore at every little thing that was worth smiling at. I'm afraid but that's the power that pulls me up to keep pushing no matter how hopeless it is.

So what should we do? Do we live today and forget tomorrow or do we worry about tomorrow at the expense of today? The truth of the matter is that we should live today sighting tomorrow. How do we strike the balance so that we don't laugh today and cry tomorrow and also so that we don't cry today thinking about tomorrow with its certainties?

I want to go somewhere and I want to walk there. Before I even stood up I thought about where I wanted to go but the moment I stood up I looked at where my next step would land. However, every once in a while I'll lift my eyes and look at where I am going. That's how we should live. We should know where we want to go but we should also look at where every single step we take to get there lands us. Walking considering every step without glancing at where we want to end up will make us miss oncoming obstacles and by the time we see them it will be too late.

My verdict therefore is that we should enjoy and cherish every small step we make toward our dreams. Every little win should be celebrated. However, it should be celebrated modestly so that we don't forget that we have bigger places to reach and that we have bigger dreams that require our very attention. We should allow ourselves to laugh and to cry where need be but we shouldn't dwell on any too long and lose sight of the other.

Most importantly, we should cherish moral victory as much as we celebrate achieving our dreams. Let every step be filled with love, with empathy, with a hand willing to lift someone and remind them that it's not the end of the road Even if we don't get where we want to go as soon as we wish, at least let's have a moral victory to smile about at the end of every day.

We shouldn't allow our dreams to make us lose who we are because whether we believe it or not the best way people will remember you is how you put a smile on their face. Let's leave the right legacy wherever we go because it's the greatest currency we will ever own. Do not let the accident swallow up the essence!!!

The Aftermath

I hope you can now give your thoughts on what the answer to my riddle could be. If not I will give you as many clues as you need to get there. Yeah maybe the piece is too long but don't get tired I wrote it all for you ✌️.