Strange Old Man...

[James Undercroft 129]

A strange old man wrapped in a very ordinary mottled brown cloak, holding an oak woof staff in his right hand stands to the side of the Kings road. A few scared peasants rush by in the direction of opposite Al'Khazar paying no heed to the old man. Suddenly a man stops and peers at the old man inquisitively as if he had seen him before. Suddenly realisation dawns on him that this was an old man that had spoken quite a long time before. It takes a long time to remember, but he realises that the topic before was pain and he remembered connecting with the old man’s words, agreeing with his every point. The man looks around for a suitable rock to sit on and wait for the old man to begin speaking once more.

Time passes and a small crowd has gathered, each person buzzing with conversation and anticipation as the stories of the last speech the old man spreads through the crowd. Hours pass and the old man stays stationary, the crowed begins to dissipate slowly at first until the small crowd becomes a few. Suddenly the old man begins to speak, at first the people are puzzled as to why the old man waited until most of the people had left or were leaving before beginning but all were soon wrapped in his words. Some people agreed, others silently fumed and disagreed with his every word wanting a chance to speak out but found themselves waiting. Others stayed on the edge of the crowd that was quickly gathering together.

"Anger is an emotion known by all who live, and is destructive in every aspect. It affects the simplest peasant to the highest of kings and lords and in all cases does nothing but make things worse. Take for example a watch maker I used to know, when he was younger he was tasked to fix watches to earn his pay, one time he made a mistake which forced him to start from scratch and in anger he hit the watch. If his intent was to fix it, why did he make it worse by hitting it? The answer is simple; anger. Did the anger he have, the frustration of failure help him in any way? No. If anything it made his task take even longer to complete and possibly creating even more anger in the long run.

Some may argue that they can channel their anger to create something positive, use their anger to defeat an enemy or to help them with physical tasks yet is it helping? What they perceive is a benefit may actually turn out to have negative consequences. If you are killing an enemy out of anger what are you achieving but causing more pain for those who you are affecting. In the case of destroying an undead out of anger what are you doing but feeding the evil souls of their comrades. Anger does not help; it never has and never will.

Instead of anger, you can try to form another emotion. For too long has anger been the norm of your ways, anger been the fallback emotion which can "get things done" for you. But it doesn't. When you boil it down anger does nothing but hinder your attempts to make things right. Instead of anger, feel determination! Hope! Will yourself to be positive! If that watchmaker had only felt these things instead would he have finished fixing that watch faster, if only those who had murdered out of anger instead took a step back and analysed their actions would that widow now be a widow now!

My message is clear; avoid anger where possible, focus on love, forgiveness and the light that will surely guide your hearts to well-being and happiness."

The people stood and stared into space attempting to take in what was just said. It took a while but eventually the crowd became a-buzz with talk and conversations about what was said. Some looked up to see if the old man would continue with anything else but quickly found out that it was gone. A very few who had seen the old man the first time realised what had happened and managed to see the old man slip away behind a tree, but under further investigation could find him no longer. Again they shrugged and walked off, to later recount their encounter with this very strange old man in the brown cloak.

[Yuln 265]

you may love reading my story, but I love reading your tales too. gosh, this is well written!

[steelersfan1221 300]

Moved to the Great Library. It shall be sorted into appropriate category shortly.