“Martyrs to the left, sages to the right.”
The small gnome barked the instructions at 30-second intervals. Paul looked around in bewilderment as people shuffled into their assigned designations.
“But what if I’m neither?” he asked.
The gnome blinked once, as if never confronted with the question before.
“Then go back to the end of the line and think about it some more.”
Befuddled, Paul trudged back to where he began. He thought over his life at length, tossing a hundred examples around, discarding a hundred decisions. What made one, in the end, a martyr or a sage? Was it a single act, or the accumulation of a life’s experience? Was one preferable to the other? He was no wiser as he approached the gnome for a second time.
“I am neither. I’ve been both at times in my life, but neither defines my total experience. What should I do?”
The gnome shrugged, a smile on his face.
“It doesn’t matter which line you choose, the destination is the same. The journey you took to get here is the only thing that counts.”
©2009 Laura Eno
