The Spirit To Live

This is a tale my grandmother told me, and her grandmother told her and her grandmother told her, and so on and so forth.

It begins with looking up: towards the sky... see those puffs of clouds swirling above your head? That delicious white floss; reminds you of cotton candy, does it not? You're thinking of how nice and soft it would feel in your hands, are you not?

Well, what if I tell you that these clouds are where you came from... you don't believe me? No matter, you will by the time I end this tale.

High up - higher than you can imagine - up up up among the skies, there exists the world of souls.

There gather all the souls that are yet to enter the world - they play about among the clouds and stare at us earthlings when they are not playing. Mischievous things they are, these souls; but they are not our concern.

Our concern is the queue of souls assembled near the area where the mischievous ones play.

You see, this queue is no ordinary queue; for one, there stand thousands and thousands and THOUSANDS of people (or rather souls) in this queue. Besides, in ordinary queues (which consist of people like you and me), everyone is in a hurry to reach the front; but that's not the case in this queue.

Here, everyone wishes to go last. You see, in those clouds right there - the white and fluffy ones - reside the spirits that play; but when it comes to clouds which are of darker hues - like that grey one to the left - these clouds carry a queue full of spirits - spirits who are about to enter the world. Spirits who'll be sent into the body of a newborn earthling.

A happy prospect, no? Well... not really. The thing is, none of the spirits actually want to come to the world - a world full of fighting and blood, wars and misery, hunger and poverty. Let's be honest: who'd want to live in such a place? Are not the clouds much better?

They are. Therefore, you should not be surprised when I tell you that the spirits who are further away from the front of the queue are much happier (if they can be called happy) than those right at the front.

But- what am I saying? I did not really tell you what happens, did I? No, I did not.

Here's the thing. The spirits playing in the clouds are summoned, one by one, by the Greater Entities. Once summoned, the Entities pass their sentence regarding the spirits: a set time of standing in the queue followed by one whole lifetime on earth.

Oh. OH! If you knew- if you only knew of the anguish that these spirits face - how they cry and scream - how they beat themselves and the clouds below them, crying out all the while:

"Do NOT send us to the earth! Oh please, oh PLEASE - not the earth, not the EARTH!!!"

Yet, who listens to these pleas? No one.

So, with suppressed sniffs and slight hiccups - these spirits move to the end of the line - all the while casting mournful glances at the lucky spirits... playing with no worries in the world... alas! Soon, they too shall know what sorrow means...

These spirits of the queue end up bonding with others nearby - often holding hands and weeping together (thus, you see, is why black clouds rain). Over the years, the spirits move forward in the queue, and as they do so, their weeping amounts to crying, and soon enough, they crying evolves into sobbing. Finally, comes the wailing. And soon after, they'll be shrieking and screaming and fighting one another. Pulling the ones behind them; clawing at each other's back; why should we be at the front? Why not them?

And! You know what's the result of this all? The Entities have to restrain these spirits by force - but their shrieking only increases. Did you ever wonder about lightning and thunder - why do they take place? Well, now you know why!

Ah! Look at the time! I suppose it's time that I end this tale.

When one of these spirits reaches the front, it's thrown into the world; into the body of a young child. But the spirit never really stops protesting, choosing to commence wailing in the frail, young body.

What did you say? What of the neighbouring spirits? Ah! Good question. You know, when you pass by a stranger in the market and you think you've known them before? It's because their spirit was your neighbour in the clouds.