An Angel's Philosophy

I was astonished to see the clock striking 6:50 a.m. just when I had done with bathing. My school bus would arrive right after 10 minutes. I hurriedly dressed up when my mom started shouting at me to get ready faster. Eventually, I skipped my health drink that mom had made and left for the bus stop. Still she came to the gate to bid me “good bye”. I smiled back at her and started to run. I looked at my wrist watch it was 6:58 a.m. then, exactly 2 minutes for the bus to arrive at the stop. I increased my pace. Thankfully, I and my bus, both reached at the same time. As I got into my bus, the sweat on my face was remarkable. As usual, I took my seat beside Jake, my best friend ever. He smiled at me and said, “Good morning Jas, how come you are late again?" I pulled out my hanky and swiped off the sweat over my forehead and exhaled a long breath of relief.
“Good morning Jake. Yeah actually I was awake till late last night so I woke up late. It was already 6:50 a.m. when I had a bath.”
“Wonderful miss! That’s what I like about you. By the way, what were you up to last night?”
“A poem with last two or four lines incomplete,” I said with disappointment.
“I’ll surely try to help you out.”
“Thanks Jake. You’re such a wonderful friend.”
“Hey! That’s enough girl. Everyone knows how kind and helpful Jake the great is.”
“Oh! Really? I thought you were an innocent fool.”
“Hey! Jas!’
“Ha ha ha ha ha”
“By the way you look beautiful when you laugh.”
“Are you serious? Not flirting, right?”
“A beautiful face attracts colourless minds. A beautiful soul attracts colourful hearts…”
I smiled at his philosophy. His eyes shone beautifully.
“Do you know who should be one’s inspiration?” he asked with a soft voice.
“Umm… It can be anyone whom one thinks to be having the ability to become one’s inspiration.”
“Nope. This is where people are wrong. You should be the inspiration to yourself. Only then, you can start believing in yourself to accomplish your goal.”
I stared at him for a minute and whispered, “How do you think so perfect?”
“Well, it’s because I can’t expertise in writing as you do.”
Within exchange of smiles the bus reached school. Each got down one after one. And as usual I and Jake sat at our places to be the last ones getting down. The bus driver smiled at us when we wished him “Have a good day.”
Both of us began walking to the classroom. Our school has a huge campus and it is a 10-15 minutes’ walk to classroom from the parking lot. As we began walking, we saw an outsider climbing up a tree outside the school boundary. He was probably aged ten. His kite was stuck in between the dense branches. He reached the kite and shouted “Yeah!” looking down. There might be his friends standing under the tree.
“Jake, if he’d be having money, he’d be happy being a student of our school. Isn’t it?”
“No Jas, everyone has got life for different purposes. We can’t predict lives.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning, that guy is happier than us. We spend our time with books. He spends his time learning practical things. Suppose there comes a big tide washing away the houses in lower areas near the sea, we may or may not be able to take relevant measures. But that guy will survive for sure because he can climb up a tall tree. So we have no right to say that he’s wasting his life without books. Instead, he’s learning better than us.
“You’re right Jake. But how long can he live a comfortable life like us when he’s out of money? Today, money is a necessity of life.”
“Maybe you’re right. But Jas, I’ve always told you, money matters to those whose dreams are small enough to let them crave to fulfill those. We have a comfortable life, he owns a satisfied one.”
I loved Jake’s interpretation of life, as we stepped into our classroom. The class started and I was still thinking of my incomplete poem. Three classes and it was time for recess. I took my diary out of my bag and placed it on the desk. He smiled looking at it and asked me to read out my incomplete poem.
It read �"
Dark clouds when cover up
The infinite blue sky
Gentle breeze blowing
Past the huge mountains
Dew drops on the soft leaves
Gathered moisture over the green grass
Babbling sound raising down the stream
As the water flows past thousand little stones
Sun setting at the west
Makes shaky images on the crystal-clear river
……………………………….
……………………………….
I looked at Jake. His eyes had a different spark. He was lost in deep thoughts. And all of a sudden, he whispered �"
“And the one standing over there
Knows not the magical power
Which emerges out of the nature
Lively pictures when falls in front of two beautiful eyes…”
I was stunned. How could he be so much perfect? He was the perfect friend I’ve ever met. I hugged him and he moved two steps back as the reaction of my sudden hug! I thanked him for completing my piece. We sat down, shared our lunch boxes while I asked him “Jake, I dream of becoming a fashion designer. What about you?”
“Umm… I dream of being a kind and helpful person serving my society.”
“But Jake, how come are you going to earn out of it? Tell me your dream profession.”
“Dreams are not always great professions, my dear. Profession means acquiring money and dreams are your heart’s desiring ways to acquire satisfaction.”
For the first time in my life, I’d learnt such a lesson that perhaps very few people get to learn in their lifetime.
The bell rang announcing the end of recess. Soon, we got back to our respective seats for the next three periods before a fifteen minutes’ break. And the classes continued. It was the 6th period and time for a substitute to enter as our teacher was on a leave. She was good looking with black rimmed spectacles. Her voice was sweet. She began asking each one of us for our names and hobbies. Each stood, explained and sat back. It was my turn then.
“I’m Jasmine. My best friend calls me Jas. And my hobbies are poetry writing, gardening and sketching aesthetic materials.”
She smiled at me. After five rows, it was Jake’s turn.
“I’m Jake. My hobbies include - experimenting spheres of life and understanding real happiness of life.”
The teacher seemed puzzled. “Jake, can you define life?”
“Life is a sea where some are happy with the presence of water, some are unhappy because the water is salty and few have faith that there are pearls deep beneath…”
There was complete silence for a few seconds. The teacher broke the ice with her claps. We all followed. I could see the sparkle in Jake’s eyes. He was different altogether. It was break time then for fifteen minutes. I went to Jake and had a chit-chat with him.
“Hey Jake, you completely rock man!”
“Oh, thanks miss beautiful!”
“I wanted to show you something Jake.”
And I handed him a blue coloured diary. It was the diary of his life lessons, his philosophies. He opened it slowly and was surprised to read his every philosophy noted by me. His eyes didn’t move off my diary. So I broke the silence. “I always note down your life lessons on a daily basis.” He then gave me a quick and gentle hug.
Classes resumed and eventually came to an end. On our way back to bus, Jake and I were talking about how study pressure has eaten up a child’s inner potential.
“Why don’t the home works let us have some free time for our passion and hobbies?” I asked in an irritating tone.
“I’m sure with time; education system will have a number of modifications for the betterment of children,” he replied in affirmative.
“That’s a different thing Jake. What about us then? Our hobbies and interests? As our studies grow, our hobbies and interests get no time at all.”
“You’re right. But that’s not our cup of tea. Our parents will never understand that. Most of the time, passion is more important than bookish knowledge. Take that little boy for instance. He spends the whole day with his kite. Tomorrow, he may become a good kite runner. It all depends on him and his destiny.”
“How does it depend on him?”
“Yeah for sure, it depends on him if he sets a goal or dreams of doing something of that sort by identifying his passion. And if he is unable to identify his passion and capability, he’ll be just a poor guy fighting starvation and poverty.”
He again added, “Always remember Jas, one should never hide one’s passion behind books. Books make a comfortable life at the end and passion makes a happy one.”
We got into the bus. As usual, I took the window seat and Jake sat beside me. The bus gained movement and I was staring through the window. Trees passing by reminded me of the time. Time passes the same way.
“Jake, how many more days are we going to travel school and back home this way?”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning, the way we come and go, your philosophies, the assignments and home works, these bus travels… How many more days?”
“Jas, my life lessons are always with you. Whenever you feel low, read your blue diary. This is the last year of our schooling. Tomorrow we won’t be sitting together this way. But, remember my words, I’ll be always by your side as your best friend forever. And once we get mobile phones, I promise to talk to you every day.”
We both smiled. I squeezed his nose. It was the sixth time I did so that day. It has become a habit now. Cute habit, as per me.
“Jas, let’s have an ice cream each at the canteen tomorrow.”
“Yeah sure, 50 cents each.”
And suddenly the bus came to a halt. Everyone’s head got dashed on the front seats. I looked out of the window. There was some kind of checking process going on for all the vehicles. It would take 10-15 minutes as per our bus driver. It was almost 5:30 p.m. I had already reached my stop. A walk of barely 20 minutes was left for me. Jake and I decided to get down and walk. He’d catch up the bus at my stop. We started walking. The sky was covered with clouds. It seemed like it’d rain in a while.
“Jas, what are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking about the strangeness in people’s mind.”
“Some people think wealth is everything and others think knowledge is everything. Does the world consist of just these two things to be considered everything?” I further added.
“You’re so very right my dear. Jas, the world has many more things that are beyond our imaginations.”
“For example?”
“For example, success and kindness. What you are saying are keys for happiness. Most people rely on wealth and knowledge for happiness. But some people know the real sources of happiness like humanity, love, dignity, kindness, respect, gratitude and forgiveness. There are even a lot more.”
I smiled at his philosophy again when he said, “Jas, never forget that when you’re thinking of more valuable things than gold, the whole world is waiting for your success.”
I nodded looking into his eyes. His eyes shone like pearls. All of a sudden, it started to rain. I could feel my skin getting wet slowly. As I turned my face, I saw a cute little girl holding a pink umbrella. A strong wind snatched her umbrella. It fell in the middle of the road. She ran to get it back. I shouted after her “Hey girl! Be careful!” I ran after her. She was about to pick up her umbrella but she wasn’t aware of the vehicles moving ferociously. I was halfway when I saw Jake run ahead of me and shout at me to stay back. I stopped there and went few steps back to the footpath with a relief that he’ll pull the girl away from any injury. Unanticipated, there was a big roar of thunder and it rained so heavily that I could barely keep my eyes open. Vehicles passed by, and I was waiting for the two of them. None could be seen. Within few minutes, people with umbrellas gathered over the road. Vehicles stopped at a short distance. My heartbeats increased their rate. I ran and pierced into the crowd. As I stood over the main point, the little girl came and hugged me tight. She was holding her pink umbrella and was crying hard. I stood there like a frozen ice placed over the ocean of blood, staring at the ground where my best friend forever lied with his shining beautiful eyes closed. Each drop of his blood, spoke me hundreds of philosophies about life and death. My vision got blurred. I was in tears. I couldn’t see anything more after my legs lost balance and I collapsed on the road…


On spur of moment, horns of the bus regained my senses. I realized that I was sitting at the bus stop and so deeply lost in my thoughts that I couldn’t even know when my bus had arrived. I took long breaths, got into the bus. Today isn’t usual for me. I take my seat near the window but the two charming eyes are lost somewhere. The spellbound philosophies lost their origin though they’re still found in my diary. I wish I could turn back the clock and bring the wheels of time to a stop. I take out my diary and turn pages for the latest poem.
It reads �"

Darkness was my friend
Until I got his hand
An angel from above
With philosophies he drove
Bringing sunshine my way
Filled darkness on his last day
Many things left unsaid
Days without him, I’m afraid
Sharing ice creams for fifty cents each
How’s that possible when he’s out of reach
A soul filled with humanity and love
May get the happiness he does deserve…