Lessons Learned

There once was a small village tucked away in a small valley in some unnamed part of the world during some forgotten time history. In this little village lived an old man who was known amongst his fellow villagers as some old unsociable hermit who did nothing all day but tend to his garden and spoke very little, if he spoke at all. He rarely went out of his little parcel of land, growing all that he ever needed to survive. With a handful of sheep and goats, he was able to provide for himself meager sustenance. Unbeknown to the villagers, however, is that this weary old soul has a secret. A secret he guarded for an entire lifetime. He spent most of his days sitting in his creaky old stool reminiscing times long gone and contemplating how he is to live out the remaining years of his life, however long or short those may be.

On one particular day, not that everyday in that village was ever particular, for that matter, it dawned on him that the time was drawing near to finally reveal his secret. Who will he disclose it to? A better question is will they believe him? Glancing over his shoulder at the old elm he contemplated again perhaps for the millionth time what those words mean. Carved into that tree were words which burned into his soul questions he simply has no answers for. " I am here now. It is time." What does it mean? Judging from how those words were carved they must have been put there by yet another lonely miserable soul an eternity ago. A lifetime he has spent trying to decipher that message and only now did he realize what they truly meant.

During his death very few ever paid him a visit. His graveyard was placed near a ravine and easily overlooked since it's been unattended for quite some time. Overgrown with dense vegetation it became another fixture in that landscape, unknown to the world, another passing of some unknown soul. Then one day, a young man wandering in the woods collecting plant samples happen to come along his grave site. On the tomb was an inscription that read," I have journeyed in this world with nothing but a longing to find inner peace. My life was a hard one and I was not one to hope for better. Only now do I truly know what 'I am here now. It is time.', truly meant. We are here for only a brief moment in time. We will pass on like a dream. For the time that was given to us we must give all that we can to make it worth well remembering. I lived my life like a dream and I now must pass on like one. Remember my words, weary traveler, and make the most of this life. It is indeed time."

Shaken, the young man stepped back, looked at the overgrown foliage, took some samples, then placed them unto his notebook with the description," Plants from the grave of a great man I never knew but taught me everything I should have known."