Young and Foolish - flashwriting

 Young and Foolish

by Susan Marie Combs

           An infant cries in her fathers arms, while he whispers sweet words to her ease her pain. He speaks in awe of the world she has just been born into. He speaks of the limitless possibilities that have now been opened to her, and how he will always be there for her, and that she was destined for great things and because she is young and foolish, she believes him.

          
As she grows, she begins to finally experience the world that her father had told her so much about. She meets new people, she learns her first language, and she learns of the happiness, joy, and love that life can bring. She learns that a kind word can lead to a smile, a smile can lead to a laugh, and a laugh can lead to many more.  Still, as many people have found out, she learns the tragic part of life is that to grasp the full joy of it's meaning, is that you must also grasp the knowledge of death.

           Clutching a furry, limp body close to her small chest, too young to know she should hold back her tears, she begs her mother to change this grievous situation to that of one her small heart can grasp.  Her mother holds her close and tells her not to worry. Her dog may be gone, but he's only gone to a better, brighter, prettier place, and because she is young and foolish she believes her.

           With the knowledge of life and death permanently tattooed across her heart, she continues to grow. Thanks to the written word she comes to find that there is more to life than just happy and sad. There are beautifully faded gray areas that bring people to laugh through the tears, smile through the pain, and believe in hopelessness, while their heart breaks in order to put itself back together. To her amazement, life was not immediately followed by death, but by hero and villains, romance and heartbreak, friends and enemies, good times and bad times, smiles and frowns, and the theory of absolutely no limits. However, her peers told her her thirst for knowledge was useless, and because she is young and foolish, she believes them.

            When her love spurned her for another, she was told it was because of herself. She was the one who was too ghastly to look at. She was the one who need for attention knew no bounds.  She was the one who led her love from her cold lips to the warmth of another, and because she is young and foolish, she believes him.

             When she found respite in the sound of laughter, she was told that her inability to make a serious face would be her downfall. Her constant search for humor in a world tainted in suits, numbers, and cold hard facts would lead her on a fruitless search. If she continued her ways, it would be the world laughing at her, and because she is young and foolish, she believes them.

            When she begins to speak of foreign lands with new people and new faces, her dreams are cut short with images, laced with threats, of becoming a penniless, homeless, vagabond depending on the kindness, and guilt, of other while her images stain the very street she happens to reside on. Places beyond her home were labeled as harsh, uncaring, and not meant for, or worthy of, her second thought. Her hopes were quickly ashed with an apology and the quickly added tag-line of "in your best interests" and because she is young and foolish, she believes them.

           With the line so ingrained into her self, she begins to seek out anything "young and foolish" that dared enter her life. Childhood fantasies are dismissed as quickly as they had been dreamt, and impracticality becomes a force to strive against.  Unsure's are replaced with absolutes, and maybes are demolished with absolute certainty. People are no longer her inspiration, but her stepping stones; nature no longer her setting, but her background. Life and Death grow from ideals to starting and ending points, and the in-between change from a gift to a task.

           Her friends, caring and concerned, break forth from the pack to tell her about their concerns. They tell her that life was meant to be enjoyed. A laugh can only be truly appreciated after the tears have dried. She was supposed to take chances, if only to use the disastrous results as pillar to stand on. A person can only truly help her, they said, after another has hurt her. The beauty of a flame can only be seen in the dark, and if she never veered from the illuminated path, she would never get to see it.

          You are no longer young, they say, but for the first time in your life you are being truly foolish.

          However, she did not believe them.