thespace.ink has collaborated with ‘Word Munchers’, a creative writing platform that trains and encourages kids and youngsters to hone their creative writing skills. thespace.ink will be publishing two short essays by students of ‘Word Munchers’ every Saturday.
I looked around and saw children and adults, all ready with their colourful kites. With the blow of the whistle, the kite flying competition commenced. Vibrant coloured kites were soaring in the sky, shades of yellow, blue, red swaying from one side to another, all fighting to hold their space.
There was one kite, which kept on going higher, and higher and higher. Just like the person flying it, I thought nothing would stop it, until another kite came out of the blue and cut the string of the soaring kite. I watched it glide and descend. It landed on the ground, flightless.
Looking at that kite reminded me of something about life. Just like that kite, when we are given the provisions, and put in our effort, we excel. We go higher than the others. Far higher. But there comes a time, when we start getting over-confident, complacent and feel we are invincible, above everyone, and no one can hurt us. We think we will always hold that high position we have obtained and stop trying to hold it tight. That is when life hits us like a bullet train.
Most unexpectedly, out of the blue, it cuts the string that made us fly so high. And when we look down, we realize we are falling. Within a few moments, we are on the ground to where we started. Realisation dawns upon us, we see that we were not looking out for competitors, just as the man flying the kite had done. He picks up the kite, disappointment written across his face. His head droops as he takes his kite and walks away.
But there is a difference between this kite and us. This kite, once cut, is cut forever. But when we are put back in our place, with experience from our previous defeat, we work harder, with determination, and this time, we don’t take our victories for granted. Perhaps, this is the beauty of human nature, that no matter how hard life hits us, we always find a way around it, because we have to. It’s our only way of surviving in this world.
The loud sound of a whistle snapped my thoughts. I looked up, and saw only one kite now. All others were sprawling across the ground. I notice that was the kite, which was barely being able to make it from the bottom, at the start of the ceremony. Along with everyone, I started clapping, and with this, we came to the end of the kite flying competition.
Image courtesy: Pixabay
