A children's story I wrote, for adults



I wrote this little children's story today, for adults to illustrate an important idea.



THE MAN WITH THE UMBRELLA
AND THE GIGANTIC STEAK THAT ALMOST KILLED HIM

by Julie Melillo

There was a man with an umbrella afraid of the rain. He carried it always each day the same, day or night, cloudy or bright.

Walking without it, he just didn't feel all right. The dark fabric blinding his face from the sun, he grew pale and without a trace of wonder or joy. He kept his umbrella open always and held proudly facing the sky, just in case.

And it's true, when a single drop fell, he stayed dry and would yell "Look at me! I'm as dry as can be!" Since the open umbrella always stayed glued to his hand, protecting him from the sky.

But under his black tarp, he missed life's art. The clouds swirling above, doves, and he never met the eyes of another on the street, remained starring at his feet, so he never fell in love. He couldn't run, he never had fun, night or day, dry or sun, he glared into his black umbrella.

He missed sunsets and sky-writing, blimps and rainbows, snowflakes and golden rays of sunshine -- never felt on his face. But he'd tell anyone, "I am prepared," as he glared. "I will never get a drop of rain on me."

And then one day, in his usual blinded way, he walked down the sunny street with his umbrella held neatly over him. But he should have stayed in bed! Because today a shadow of bad luck hung over head. His fortune cookie warned him to be careful or he might end up dead.

As he crossed the street he didn't see a giant piece of falling meat from the sky -- a gigantic steak thrown by the butcher guy, and he stepped into its trajectory, his umbrella blocking his view.

"No!" screamed onlookers. "Get out of the way -- if you don't move that meat will make you meet the end of your days!"

Luckily at the last moment the man happened to step out of the way, as the hue steak fell and slammed into the ground, and onlookers yelled "Yay! He didn't die! But what a stupid guy to always carry an umbrella around -- so he can't even see a gigantic steak rapidly plummeting towards the ground!"

The man looked up with a terrorized face, he realized his fears had been misplaced.

"Look here, I've almost died trying to protect myself from a few drops of rain to stay dry -- and who knew it would be true that a gigantic steak would fall from the sky and almost make me meet my fate."

With a shaking hand he tore the black umbrella from his white-knuckle grip and threw it into a trash can, the sun finally shining onto his gray face. He said, "I will never again carry this umbrella just in case and rob my face of the sunlight's beautiful embrace. I won't ignore the beautiful sky, the birds and rainbows and snow -- now they're all mine. And if a few drops of water fall, it won't bother me at all."

The crowd cheered again as the man walked away, never again to ignore all the beauty around him -- one close call was all it took to close the umbrella and retire his gray fearful look once and for all.

THE END

Comments

Gurmit Singh said…
Lovely story. Thank you!

I think this story is a great example of how it important it is to let go and appreciate life.

I feel watching the news, or reading the negative headlines of a newspaper or magazine is like holding an umbrella.

It creates a fear and a need to protect when really there is no need.

And it takes something drastic to bring the message home that people miss out on life because they were so paranoid in fear that they let it rule them versus appreciating all the simple things that some of us often take for granted and come to realize how grateful we really should be for these gifts.
So insightful as always Gurmit! Thank you so much for your feedback. You really got the message I was trying to convey! Wonderfully put. Hope all is going great for you! :) -J
Gurmit Singh said…
Thank you Julie for allowing me to exercise my mind. There are so many great things going on and there are other things that are in the process of becoming great=) As always, thankyou for your concern and total commitment to transforming the lives of others from the inside-out. I'm looking forward to more intriguing blogs and impactful sessions with you!

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