Just Like All the Others

You arrive at the beach, pulling a large wagon
filled with bricks made of dirt. You're determined to build your castle.
And those dirt bricks are feeble, each one no bigger than your hand.
And the only foundation you have is the loose earth
next to the sand, a soil too soft to use for replacement bricks.
All of your hopes and dreams are in the completion of this castle.
But while you're building it, several nearby children run towards it and
forcefully knock it down with absolute arrogance and disrespect.
And every time you try to rebuild your castle,
the same rude, laughing children run by and knock it down,
no matter how many times you angrily scold them.
At one point, when you start building your castle for the umpteenth time,
and you see those same disrespectful little brats poised to attack,
you plead with their parents to restrain them,
and you do your best to reason with those parents as mature adults,
only to be met with scornful, mocking laughter from those same parents
as they join hands with their children and knock down your incomplete castle
with enough force to shatter some of those irreplaceable dirt bricks.
You have no choice but to take your wagon, load the remaining bricks,
and journey to another part of the beach, another foundation of loose earth,
as far away from those disrespectful children and their wretched parents
as possible. But no matter how many times you move, or where,
there's always another set of spoiled brats knocking down every castle you build,
always another group of equally disrespectful parents helping them knock it down,
and always the loss of that many more precious dirt bricks,
until the moment arrives, when you realize that your wagon is completely empty,
and you are forced to leave the beach, never to return again.
"That fool was just like all the others," shout the parents and their children,
with howling laughter.
---
There is always that noblest ancient dream
of building an eternal castle,
established upon a sure foundation of solid rock,
and made with bricks consisting of the finest gold.

Copyright © 2017, All Rights Reserved