Short Stories

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I am on a train, alone in the compartment, and I'm going on a very long trip. Since I cannot sleep, I’m thinking about what I could do in order to make time go by faster. I, therefore, pull out of my bag a novel composed of three volumes, entitled “The Ideal Life,” which I bought just right before leaving for this trip. The author is totally unfamiliar to me, but I bought the book because the title seemed interesting. I take the first volume and start reading, but not long after that, I become bored. Still, I don’t give up, saying to myself: Well, I’ve only read a few pages. Nothing interesting has happened so far, but I will certainly get to the middle of the action soon. I just need to have a little more patience until I finish the introductory part.

I look through the window of the compartment and notice that the sky is clouded. The dark clouds are moving unceasingly, but without changing their speed at all. I watch their steady and apparently slow movement for a time, and in the stillness that surrounds me, it starts raining. The falling of the infinite number of small and dense drops for a while detaches me from reality, as if they tried to kidnap me into their world. They all keep the same distance between them, they all have the same size, and they all fall with the same speed. Each of them seems to be conformed to a plan that was settled beforehand by someone with an indescribable accuracy.

Suddenly, I wake up as from a dream and decide to get back to my reading. I continue to read, but in spite of my expectations, I realize that I can't find anything that would catch my attention. I've already read a fair amount and nothing interesting has happened yet. The protagonist, presented under the name X, does not yet fit into any of the character categories I have encountered in literature so far. What is indeed strange is the fact that the main character’s life is going by in an unimaginable monotony and routine. Each day seems to be like the previous one. He goes to work in the morning, and comes home in the evening, spends some time with his family, reads something, watches TV, and afterwards goes to sleep, thus preparing for the next day, when he will restart the same activities. He leads a quiet life and has everything he wants; all goes well for him and he doesn’t have any negative experiences, such as: troubles, suffering, sadness, loneliness or conflicts with the people around him. In other words, he seems to possess all the elements necessary to having a fulfilled and happy life, an ideal life. Nevertheless, something seems to be missing from the novel and from the life or the pursued character. There is no action that would make the novel interesting.

I look at my watch in order to see how much time I have left before I reach my destination. I can’t believe I’ve only gone one fourth of the whole way! Time seems to go by so slowly! At every station, some people get off, while others get on. As the train keeps on moving, I hear its steady and annoying sound continuously, along with the one made by the rain drops, which get bigger and bigger. I hear the sound of the drops more and more loudly as they fall on the window of my compartment, as if inviting me to join them and keep the same tempo with them. Against the background of the falling of rain, I notice the evening slowly approaching. Little by little, the darkness is starting to reign, until the light is completely cast away. The light in my compartment has just started working. Therefore, it's time I went back to my reading.

I read a little more and then, having no more patience, I skip a few chapters. To my surprise, I discover that throughout the pages that I have skipped, nothing important has happened. It even seems to me that I haven’t missed anything, but that I’ve only continued my reading from where I had left it. Soon, I decide to get to the second volume, saying to myself: The first volume was not interesting at all, but I’m sure that in the second one the very action will begin. So I start reading the first chapter, discovering, to my disappointment, that the novel continues to lack action. I scan this volume a little, finding it as boring as the other one.

I’m feeling very tired, so I’m trying to get some rest, knowing that I still have plenty of time until I reach my destination. Strangely enough though, I can't get to sleep at all. I’m struggling to find a more comfortable and proper position in order to rest, but nothing seems to be working. Seeing that my attempt is unsuccessful, I resume my reading.

Since the novel hasn't caught my attention so far, I get to the last volume, hoping to find something more interesting there. After reading a few pages, I'm extremely disappointed to notice that the situation hasn't changed at all. The same boring atmosphere continues to prevail. Nevertheless, being curious to find out how the novel ends, I open it to the last page, where the end of character X's life is presented. It seems that he did not live more than one day, but it is as if he was born and died immediately, since nothing interesting or important ever happened to him.

On the last page, however, I notice a very strange and unexpected thing. Up until this point, the protagonist has been presented as character X, but in the end his name is actually revealed. I look at it carefully, but I can't believe my eyes! Assuming that I haven't seen well, I read the name once again. Extremely shocked and surprised, I realize that this is none other but my very own name...



Now imagine that you are the main character in the novel and that your life develops exactly the way it was presented there. Could you really call that an "ideal life," just like the title of the novel was? Is an ideal and happy life indeed one in which all goes well and you don’t experience any problems, suffering, sadness and loneliness? Don’t all of these contribute together to the process of maturing and finding happiness and meaning in life? Are you now realizing that every little thing that has ever happened to you, everything that you have ever experienced has had a special role and has contributed to your molding? Try to imagine your life as always being full of joy, happiness and satisfaction, without any troubles, sadness and suffering. Without all of these mixed together, wouldn’t your life be empty, boring and meaningless, just like that of the character in the novel?

Be thankful to God for everything He allows in your life, even though sometimes you don’t understand His will and it’s hard for you to accept it! Trust that He knows what is best for you and that, at the right moment, He will work everything out in such a way that you will be amazed at the beauty of a life lived with Him and for Him, staying in His will.

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