tales for dreamers: this way up

Everybody can see the way up. Everybody wishes they could go up and touch the face of the clouds in the sky.

Few actually want to climb up though. 

The excuses they make are many and varied. From not knowing how steep the hill is, to not knowing where it leads, to having no idea what obstacles might leap out at them along the way. Like the dew-soaked grass that would make their shoes wet. Or the coyotes that are surely hiding behind that line of trees, waiting to pounce and attack. 

The only ones who climb up are the young ones who haven’t yet learnt to make excuses and the old ones who’ve become acutely aware that life is really too short for excuses.

Their reasons to climb up are different, though. 

Although many won’t admit it aloud, the old ones do secretly hope for a glimpse of the heavens when they’re at the top. Whatever they see from up there, they usually come down content and at peace, pleased with their ability to climb at their age.

The young ones simply run up to the top without pausing to wonder why. Once up there, they lie down on the grass—who cares if it’s dewy-wet and muddy?—and roll down the hill with squeals of triumph and joy.

None of the climbers realize that the sky and her clouds are watching them, taking much delight in the happiness of these old and new humans on the land below.

And this is the joy the sky and the clouds seek to fill their paradise with.