Building Castles

[Guest guest]

Forwarding a good article ...

 

Girish

 

 

Hot sun. Salty air. Rhythmic waves. A little boy is on his knees

scooping

and packing the sand with plastic shovels into a bright blue

bucket.Then he

up-ends the bucket on the surface and lifts it. To the delight of the

little

architect, a castle tower is created. All afternoon he will work.

Spooning

out the moat. Packing the walls. Bottle tops will be sentries.

Popsicle

sticks will be bridges. A sandcastle will be built.

 

Big city. Busy streets. Rumbling traffic. A man is in his office. At

his

desk he shuffles papers into stacks and delegates assignments. He

cradles

the phone on his shoulder and punches the keyboard with his fingers.

Numbers

are juggled and contracts are signed and much to the delight of the

man, a

profit is made. All his life he will work. Formulating the plans.

Forecasting the future. Annuities will be sentries. Capital gains will

be

bridges. An empire will be built.

 

Two builders of two castles. They have much in common. They shape

granules

into grandeurs. They see nothing and make something. They are diligent

and

determined. And for both the tide will rise and the end will come. Yet

that

is where the similarities cease.

 

For the boy sees the end while the man ignores it. Watch the boy as

the dusk

approaches. As the waves near, the wise child jumps to his feet and

begins

to clap. There is no sorrow. No fear. No regret. He knew this would

happen.

He is not surprised. And when the great breaker crashes into his

castle and

his masterpiece is sucked into the sea, he smiles. He smiles, picks up

his

tools, takes his father's hand, and goes home.

 

The grownup, however, is not so wise. As the wave of years collapses

on his

castle he is terrified. He hovers over the sandy monument to protect

it. He

blocks the waves from the walls he has made. Salt-water soaked and

shivering

he snarls at the incoming tide. " It's my castle, " he defies. The ocean

need

not respond. Both know to whom the sand belongs ...

 

I don't know much about sandcastles. But children do. Watch them and

learn.

Go ahead and build, but build with a child's heart. When the sun sets

and

the tides take - applaud. Salute the process of life and come back the

next

morning ...happily to build a better a castle.