COLLECTING

Since I am someone who keeps track of the ‘unusual’, I thought nothing of the date I selected to post on until today: April 24^th, 2011, Easter. Not only did I get the honor to post on Christmas Eve, but I get Easter, too. How nice . . . and how ironic. Twenty-four has special meaning to me; it is my numerological Lifepath Number derived from the date of my birth. Some call it Destiny but it is really the path we set ourselves to travel the moment we take our first breath.

So . . . was it chance, or did fate play a role in my getting to post on the two most important holidays in the Christian world? I have to wonder.

What I am going to share with you today is another short story written for Creative Writers. We’ve asked members to select a topic from time to time. They didn’t have to contribute but how about an idea? One member asked us to write about “Collections”. We all have them in one form or another.

COLLECTING

I’ve collected a lot of things in my time . . . things only the other person and I have seen - one on one. I’m not saying we were alone. Many times we weren’t. Other people saw the same thing, but it was from a different perspective . . . that of the other person. Everyone sees things in their own point-of-view. It is the nature of the world.

Some of the things I collected were sad. They weren’t happy and wished things were different. “If only” and “Why me” were their favorite words. Many thought they didn’t deserve it but they did. We are the sowers of our lives.

Others were indifferent. They couldn’t care one way or another. I was reluctant to collect these, but the choice wasn’t mine. They made it by their come-what-may attitude. Thing of it was, they were always surprised when their gamble failed and what they supposedly didn’t care about came.

Then there were those who weren’t quite right in the head. At the mercy of other people, they sometimes had a prayer - but most did not. Mercy means what it says and many of the people involved thought only of themselves - selfishness in the purest form.

I like collecting the scum of humanity: murderers, rapists, pedophiles, domestic abusers. The list is endless. I’m glad when it’s time to collect them. No one deserves my services more.

I dislike collecting the happy. They deserve to stay because they survived. No matter what they faced, they kept a positive attitude and made the best of it. That’s what surviving is all about.

The elements of my nature are not always easy to contend with. Many times it is unjust, unfair and totally wrong. Even then “If only,” and “Why me,” are not allowed. Justice does not exist. It was not meant to be in the first place. How would they learn if everything was perfect? Perfection is only for Heaven, which they know but have forgotten.

Not my problem. I am only here to collect them, sending them on the path they choose: a do-over, wandering the gray of indecision, or going home. It doesn’t matter one way or another to me. My job is collection.

Many mistake me for the Devil, but I’m not. I am of the material realm, not spiritual so I have no dealings with the Devil . . . other than to take what he leaves.

Same thing with God. I wouldn’t exist if it hadn’t been for Him and His family thinking of me long ago. I have seen so many cycles, so many changes to the place people call home. They didn’t always exist. Animals came first. They were my first collection.

No, I’m not death either, as death is spiritual also - he collects souls: life- and I am reality. Hard to understand but it is so.

So then . . . what am I? I am the Earth and what I collect are the bodies of every physical form that ever walked the surface of my face. One day, I will collect you, too . . . even the person writing this. That’s what reality is all about.

©Copyright, 2008

M.L. Huey

So remember this Easter - no matter what your faith or lack of - that nothing physical lives forever . . . only the spiritual.