The Wrong Side of 25

What does it feel like to be on the wrong side of 25? It’s a bloody good question…at least one that I was left pondering on the night of Jan the 4th. I’ll be true to you…it really scared the living daylights out of me. I’m normally not worried about aging per say. I mean…appearance-wise it does not concern me at all. However, I suddenly realized that I was closer to 30 than ever before and still far from what I would define as “successful”. 30 has always looked to be the halfway mark – the kind of age by when people are at the helm of their enterprises. The worst part about being 25 is not that you are not 20 anymore but that your countdown to 30 has just begun. It’s a dicey age…an age where you are expected to have the aggressive energy of a 20 year old and the mature perspective of a 30 year old. In fact, this is the only facet that I found endearing about being 25 – the challenge of being two people in one!

Nature's Conundrum

Once upon a time very, very long ago, there lived a young naval captain. This captain had the favour of the king and was selected by him and his advisors to embark on an expedition to discover an ambiguous land form. Nothing was known about the land… just that it was an island and that there was a direction to follow. Evidently, the king wanted to establish a settlement on that land as it was rich in iron ore – something that his kingdom could do with. The young captain made the journey braving the various hazards of the rough sea. His being an amateur did not make the job any easier. After months at sea he reached the landform and after a day of exploration found that the land already had inhabitants.

He clearly recognized that the land could not be claimed forcefully as that would be only taking the soil and not the soul. Although he had the King’s men aboard the ship, he refrained from using their protection and went ahead to understand the ways of the land on his own. His boldness won the trust of the chieftain. However, the younger men of the tribe were less than enthusiastic about the captain’s visit. Out of the blue, an enormous spear almost claimed the life of the captain. The king’s men, on seeing this swung into action and, even against the pleas of the explorer, ran in to clash against the aborigines. Legend has it that the blood-red sunset saw 2,000 fallen aborigines before the king’s men finally left the island.

The land mass soon regained from its bloody state and went on to prosper and become a greatly industrious nation.

What happened to the explorer? Some say that he went on to discover the greatest land mass ever. Others argue that he left the King’s service to become a much feared pirate. Yet others say that he renounced the sea and took to a monastery.

Although it did seem so to the naked eye that all was finally well, there was a critical question left unanswered - Who was responsible for the events that took place?

Was it the captain who unwittingly stepped on property that was not meant to be? Was it the regalia that forced him into the mission? Was it the men who meant to protect their captain? Was it the aborigines who wanted to defend what was their own? Was it the island that stood back and watched as disaster struck…unable to indicate either an inclination or an affiliation? Or was it nature…in all its trueness – a two faced conundrum.