Saturday 6 May 2017

300 Words a Day - #34: A Barnacle's Tale - Part 1 of 3



Yesterday, I mentioned the importance of flowing with life, and finished off using the analogy of a barnacle. (A barnacle being an arthropod that clings to rocks, resisting the tide.) 

I remember reading a tale about a barnacle, but I can’t remember whereabouts I read it. 

I will try and write one here. (If you know of such a tale, please let me know).

***


So the story goes that a group of barnacles were clinging to a rock.

All the barnacles were conditioned from a young age to resist the tide. No matter how hard life got, one was never to let go and be swept away.

“Those that get swept away are never seen again!” said a melodramatic barnacle. 

Let’s call him Barry.

“But there has to be more to life than clinging to this rock,” said another barnacle. We’ll call her Bev. Her thinking set her apart from the rest. “Day in, day out, all we do is cling. What if there’s more?”

“More?” said Barry. “What do you mean more?”

“Well, suppose all those who have let go and trusted where the tide took them-”

“Now stop that talk about the tide! If the elders hear you they’ll-“

“I wasn’t saying anything bad... I was just going to say, what if those who have let go are not only okay but are actually having an amazing time? What if they’ve found other rocks?”

“You talk daft!”

“What if they’re doing what every barnacle dreams of?”

“And what exactly might that be?”

“Well… don’t you want to be free?”

“I am free… free to roam on our rock!”

“No, I mean free with the tide; for all the stress and the pressure to vanish.”

“You just need to learn how to cope better.”

Bev stared at Barry, angrily. 


To be continued tomorrow...





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