Canoeing at Dusk

     

     Still water, birds chirping in the distance, and the faint whistle of a man as his mind wanders about his consciousness. This was the environment that every human being should experience at least once in his life. Well, that is how Tim felt, anyway.

     

     Scanning the area around him, Tim saw nothing but water and the early stages of settling fog which stood between him and dry land. Not that he wished to feel the hard earth beneath his feet. Tim was elderly and wise in age, but young and free in the soul. Growing up they had always told him that it wasn’t possible to obtain both freedom and adulthood. But that was exactly what Tim was here for, to be at the last stages of his life and still feel that same freedom that he had once felt as a young lad.

     

     Why must adults choose to think like they do? Tim never could understand his own kind. The way they always scurried about as if they had to save the world and destroy it all in one day. Why couldn’t they just see the world as he did? His kind sees the world as nothing more than time that runs too fast for their set pace. Why couldn’t they run free like he had, like they once did as children? Must everything change over time?

     

     Tim exhaled and slowly allowed his eyelids to close. The time was drawing nearer. His song was coming to an end, just as everyone’s must. Tim enjoyed the life that he had lived. He had made many great achievements and many massive mistakes. He was a man that regretted nothing, well almost nothing.

     

     There always seemed to be that one mistake or missed opportunity that haunts you, even to the grave. If only he had done more. If only he had accomplished that one last task. There was, and always will be, that “if only.”

     

     Tim had only desired one last thing, before he left his home. It wasn’t riches, nor success, nor fame. No, it was something much more precious and meaningful than fame and fortune. It was the opportunity to have taken part in more people’s lives.

Not what you expected?

    

     It’s never what anyone expects; helping people. It’s the last thing to ever come from your actions, but one of the first things to cross your mind. Whether it’s negative or positive, it is always there, lurking in the shadows of conscience. Tim was a genuine guy at heart, but every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future. And boy, did Tim have a past, but don’t we all?

     

     Tim held back a slight grunt as he gripped at his heart. Of course, no song can end without that last shot of pain, but did it have to strike him so hard? The man let go of his oars and tried his best to ignore the depressing sound of them hitting the water. He was so scared, so very scared. Who was there for him in the very end? No one except his provocative thoughts.

     

     As Tim lie there, dying away on the floor of his boat, a question crossed his mind. Where was that child? Where was the freedom that he had once dreamed of? Had it left him the moment pain had corrupted his heart? No child can survive a crushed heart. Perhaps Tim didn't want to be a child at the moment. Maybe it was for the best.

     Why the sudden change of mind, you might ask? Well, it’s simple really, and Tim was a simple-minded guy. Every child needs someone to hold them in times of need and fear. Tim currently had no one as he felt his life slipping away. It was time to grow up. It was time to remember that time runs faster than your set pace. It was time to go.

Setting Sun

     The sun was setting, causing the day’s blue skies to turn a gorgeous, bright red. Its reflection spread itself across the brim of the ocean’s surface as the waves crashed against the sand that I adored oh-so much. The feel of it, the smell of it, everything about the beach just seemed right.

    

     Some choose to spend their time with nothing but a butt planted firmly on the sandy ground and a nose stuck in a book. Most prefer to lay themselves on a smooth towel and take pleasure in the joys of getting skin cancer. Not I. I am one of the very few who merely desire to stop, stare, and imagine. To imagine the impossible, the inevitable, the unthinkable, that was my job, or my craving, you could say.

     

     As I continued to gaze upon the magnificent sight, my mind began to work its magic. I could feel it shifting gears as steam made its way out of my ears and into the polluted air. Soon, the image before me changed into one of the most horrifying sights of all. The sun was no longer simply a ball of burning gas, but instead the top of the dreadful mushroom cloud.

Why?

     

     That was all that I could ask myself. Why must I think of such appalling circumstances? To take a beautiful picture that only one’s eye can capture and turn it into such hideousness was surly a crime, it had to be. This was my curse. This was my punishment. This was my insanity. This was my paradise. This…this was humanity.

Allow me to ask you a question.

  

     What makes you better than the most despised man in history, Adolf Hitler, himself? For you are nothing but a murderer and a terrorist such as he. You despise him with all of your being, but your being despises you. Humanity is nothing but a time bomb, waiting for that last second that would trigger its detonation. Our time is coming, your time is coming, my time is coming; the time when our wickedness is put to an end. The Day of Reckoning, or Doomsday, as some may call it. And might I say, that will be a glorious day indeed.