In a Moment

I’m participating in the Trust30 Challenge, where I’m given a prompt to write about each day for 30 days. Here’s the first prompt, followed by my reaction. Forgive the unpolished writing - it’s a bit outside my comfort zone.

We are afraid of truth, afraid of fortune, afraid of death, and afraid of each other. Our age yields no great and perfect persons. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

You just discovered you have fifteen minutes to live.

1. Set a timer for fifteen minutes.
2. Write the story that has to be written.

Once upon a time, I forgot to live freely. I remembered much later. I freed myself from unwanted battles - like the one against the system. I am not obligated.

When I no longer walked the soldier’s path, I found new treasures of which the brightest were moments. I searched for years to find my first moment. I finally found it in the depths of a forest, where I stood breathless from my trek and pointed my face at the heavens. Worldly splendor washed away my perception of time. I was at peace in my first moment.

After that, I lived for moments. But I did not search for them. My first moment had shown me the futility of time, and there is no search without time. A free man, I found a free woman and made free children. I worked freely and taught my children to do the same. Together we lived for moments and shared them with our loved ones.

Then one day, a man said the world was about to end. He couldn’t believe we hadn’t heard. Still in disbelief, the man began to explain our imminent downfall. But then the ground lurched violently, and a cosmic surge freed everyone in a moment.