" You aren't dancing?"
" I would love to, if you will join me?"
Dancing came naturally to both. Happy to see that they synch-ed well, they let their hair down. Enjoying every bit of their dance they were reluctant to leave the floor when the DJ called it off. But by then they were already looking forward to seeing each other in the evening.
Though it was past midnight when he returned to his room, the Captain couldn't sleep quickly. He wondered how he never thought about some of the important things in life. He clearly didn't know, what he wanted from life. Perhaps the battles had numbed him too much. May be such thoughts were detrimental to the focus he needed during combat. He was closer to death than life while fighting and hence never looked for meaning in life. Content with the answer, he dozed off peacefully.
Captain was an early riser. He always enjoyed his cuppa tea in the wee hours of morning. The quietness and solitude helped him connect deeper within. Sitting in the verandah he was thinking about the previous evening, when he heard, " can i share some ginger tea with you?"
It was his best friend who occasionally joined him in this morning ritual.
" Sure, i had made an extra cup, thinking you may drop in. You didn't come to the club last night?"
" No, i had gone to see one of my uncle who has come to town recently. Did i miss anything?"
" It was the same stuff but we enjoyed the dance"
" We?"
" Oh! i met this girl yesterday and frankly i haven't met anyone like her before. She has a great attitude and a mystery around her "
" Are you in ????"
" All i can say is that she is impressive and i am anxious to meet her again in the evening. By the way, i am still thinking about a question that was asked to one of the participants"
" What was it?"
" What are the three things that make life complete?"
" That's easy. Love, Change and Freedom"
The ease with which everyone was answering this question made the Captain feel lesser. But now he was determined to find his answer to this important question. Love was a common answer and he agreed with this bit. Although, he had a strange feeling that most people talked about love very casually. That they consider it a feeling or an emotion and associate it mostly with the relationship between a man and a woman. He didn't have a clear answer but was sure that it was something more deeper. But for the time being he would agree that Love is one of the three things that make life complete. It is the foundation of all creation.
Change was a common answer and for a moment he wanted to give in to the law of averages. He did agree that change is important but did not want to give it the coveted second spot. Primarily because this factor was ruled by 'Nature' and so was beyond human dominion. It happens and it is important - is what he felt.
Recognition and freedom were the other parts of his friend's answer. Recognition may be something that keeps us motivated but he didn't find it universally appealing.
Freedom make life complete is an obvious corollary but so can be Hope. His mind was instantly bombarded with multiple answers :
Relationships? Building a tribe? Our inter-connected-ness.
Gratitude? Empathy? Giving?
Helping others?
A work that you are passionate about and that requires your unique skills? A worthy pursuit?
Being calmly active and actively calm?
Perhaps there were more things that could get added to this list. How can he get it down to the three things is what occupied his mind till he was getting ready to meet his new friend. There was enough to talk about and he had an intuition that by the time he returned back, he will have his answers.
to be continued...
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