They were sitting in a lush green garden, under the watchful sky accompanied by the rising rays of the sun. But none of it mattered at that moment. Because no one admired that artist's work. They were all busy being an artist themselves.
Starting with a white sheet of paper, they had filled it with the colors of their choice. Some left it at is while some sketched the black outlines to make their drawing look even more beautiful. And indeed they were. All the drawings were beautiful in their own way. Different. And beautiful.
When he finished giving a final touch to his sheet, he glanced around to check if anyone had done worse than him. Luckily, he found one. While he had gone for a simple drawing of nature - the mountains, a sun, a river flowing by, some birds and a solitary house by the riverbank - the others had miraculously decided to paint something more mature.
He was going to go submit his sheet when his eyes stopped at her sheet. She had the same drawing like him. The same mountain, the same river, just one house as well. Moreover, even their choice of colors matched. The only thing which called them apart were the colors of their sun.
She didn't realize when he stood behind her and started admiring her drawing over her head, but she felt the weight of his stare. Without knowing what was it, she just shuffled in her place growing a little uncomfortable. Instinctively, she sprang her head around to look at the source of her discomfort. As soon her eyes met with his, he blinked a couple of times and started looking away. His eyes roamed everywhere except in her direction. And this time, it was his turn to feel that weight of a stare on him. With no other option in sight, he allowed their eyes meet once again.
She raised her eyebrow asking what was it. With a very slow blink, he shook his head in a little nothing. Her eyes went wide demanding an answer from her guest. And this time he didn't search for an escape.
Rather than trying to use the words for explanation, he decided to let their drawings do the talking.
He sat down beside her and placed his sheet on the left of hers. One glance at it and she understood it all. But another glance at it and she was left in a stream of confusion.
"Sun rays are yellow."
"Sun rays are orange."
They spoke at the same moment.
"Why is your sun yellow?"
"Why is your sun orange?"
And once again the words came out in unison. For a third person looking at them, it'd have been a moment of laughter. Two people staring at the other's sheet with immense concentration. Then suddenly looking at each other and speaking at the exact moment. And as if that wasn't enough, repeating the same sequence again.
For them, the world didn't matter. They wished to know the reason why someone would try to shy away from normal.
After allowing a moment of silence to pass, she decided to take the lead.
"Why is your sun yellow and its rays orange?"
Her sun was totally opposite. It was orange surrounded by the yellow rays.
"Ladies first," he said pointing at her sheet with his eyes.
Not wanting to shift their focus to another argument, she gave in to his request.
"I believe the sun is burning hot at the core. And so, it needs to be shown with a strong color as orange. As for the rays, the heat will always go down as we go away from the sun. Thus, the mild yellow rays."
She expected a look of surprise or rejection on his face. Something to show that he didn't believe in her theory at all. To her surprise though, his face bore no such feature. It had a thoughtful look in place. He was thinking. As if trying to weigh her theory with the one he had in mind. But whatever it was, he was taking too much time. The silence was killing her now. She had to know his reasons.
"Uh..huh..uh..huh.." she coughed, drawing his attention back to the world of humans.
"Oh," he stuttered realizing he had kept the lady waiting for too long. "I see sun as a source of power. What I think is if you want to look powerful, you need to show that power to the world like this orange rays. And once you do that, no one will notice that you're soft at the core, maybe even vulnerable. You just need to show that power."
She didn't say anything. She just contemplated his theory with hers just the way he had done a moment before. He didn't intervene. He allowed her all the time she needed.
No one said anything. Probably no one knew what to say. After pondering over the other's theory, they concluded that it wasn't wrong as well. But then, they weren't ready to accept that theirs could be wrong too. And so, they just smiled at each other.
As they submitted their sheets, they knew that both of them were correct. And they kept it that way.
***
"After all, it's just the way you see the world."
***
Who do you think is correct?
Do you agree with them?
Or you have your own theory behind it?
