Volant Works

The elephants were playing in the water; two older ones were out in the deep telling jokes while two young ones were close to the shore spraying and splashing water on each other. After the initial excitement wore off, the two in the deep water called for the young ones to come out and swim with them. The young ones usually shied away from the deep water, but caught in the excitement, they didn’t think twice about it. They took up running and splashing until their feet couldn’t touch the bottom anymore. As they felt their bodies lift off the riverbed, they could also feel all of their problems and worries lift from their minds. It was rejuvenating; they felt weightless in body and spirit. They went to the older elephants and quietly listened as one of them was telling a story, and at its conclusion, they all roared so loud with laughter that the nearby trees erupted with birds taking to the skies. The elephants were as carefree as any being on this earth could be. Yet, it was just yesterday they were informed that they had nothing but problems.

Aside from the usual means of survival, they were sure they had nothing to worry about. They never searched themselves for any problems, and they never went out looking for any. They enjoyed their lives with a contentment that one in our world can only dream of. Life is life for an elephant, and it needs no improvement. The idea of improvement itself was foreign to them. There was no need for it when their days brought endless comfort, and everything worked out just as it should. They lived this way in blissful ignorance and endless contentment. Until one day, a messenger brought them the news of all their troubles.

The elephants were in the middle of a two-day journey from one watering hole to the next. They had appearances to keep up and news to deliver from the animals at the last watering hole who didn’t have the means to travel. Elephants covered a lot of ground and were renowned for their memories. This made them the perfect messengers in the animal world. The other animals were grateful, and the elephants loved the attention.

On the first night of their journey, they were deep into the gossip of the other animals as they were looking for a place to build a fire and set up camp. As they searched for the right spot, they smelled smoke and looked off to see that a fire had already been built. They decided to investigate, and it was then that they came upon a man named Everett.

Everett was a man in his late fifties. He had the appearance of a vagabond who once lived in a ballroom and hadn’t had a change of clothes since. His head was covered by a scrunched top hat, his face framed by bushy sideburns, and the rest of his body was adorned by a tattered tuxedo with red stripes down the arms and legs. He rose to greet the elephants, putting most of his weight on a cane.

“Hi there, welcome. Welcome to Everett Outpost.”

The elephants looked at each other. This was no outpost; they knew of every outpost along this path. They travel this same route regularly throughout the year, and the only landmarks in this area were the river and the two watering holes they were traveling between.

“This is no outpost. Who are you? What do you mean by trying to tell us this is an outpost? It’s just you and a fire.”

“I’m Everett, of course. And no, sadly, this is not much of an outpost. I’ve only just made it here myself. Will you be spending the night?”

“We must. It is already late. And since you’ve already got a fire going, we might as well. We’ll send the young ones out to gather wood to keep it going.”

“You are too kind. Please sit, and I’ll tell you my business.”

“What business does a man have in the middle of nowhere?”

“Well, I used to work at a circus.”

At this, the elephants all jumped and let out a surprised trumpeting.

“No, no, please don’t be alarmed.” Everett said with waving arms, “I was a consultant. I worked for the animals. I had no association with the circus itself. I only worked at them, not with them.”

“How is that possible?” Noticing for the first time; “You’re dressed like one of them.”

“I promise you; these are not my clothes. I had to steal them. I was kicked out of a traveling circus that made its way not too far from here. They found out what I was up to and left me behind. I had to take what I could and run off or face imprisonment. You have no idea what it’s like to answer to Circus Law. I have a much better chance out here alone.”

The elephants knew of the circus nearby. It was the topic of nearly half the messages being sent from the animals at the other watering hole. They knew of the brutality of circus law as well. So, they calmed a little and sat as they queried the man some more.

“What were you up to? Why would they kick you out?”

“I was trying to help the animals prepare for what was to come after the circus. I was trying to help them save for the future, to help them retire. The circus doesn’t like the animals thinking of a life outside their tents. They threw me out.”

“Retire?” all the elephants asked in unison. “What is that?”

The elephants had no idea what the concept of retirement was, and the idea, as explained by this strange man, invoked quite a stir among them. They had never thought about any other stages of their lives other than the present and listened with great concern as he spoke. He told them they needed a nice, comfortable spot far away from the Serengeti where an elephant could enjoy a pleasant walk without the risk of being mauled by lions. They were told that they needed a good place to raise baby elephants and watch their children grow up. He explained the location of natural springs and where the best grass was. He told them they needed to prepare for life many years down the road.

This caused quite a commotion within their group. They had never heard of such a premise and here they were – completely unprepared. They hadn’t put a single thought towards retirement. They met this revelation with commotion and worry, but the man assured them that with every problem they had, he could match it with a solution. He sat them down and talked to them about achieving a better life until the fire burned down to the last embers.

How was an elephant to know all this? They never thought about it before – they just walked to where the water was when they were thirsty, found the tallest, juiciest grass when they were hungry and laid on the softest dirt when they were sleepy. Everything worked out as it should in their lives up to this point.

At the end of his speech, the elephants concluded that they do have many problems, problems they didn’t know they had, and future problems that needed to be planned for. It was with worry on their minds that they grew tired and slept where they were instead of finding a nice spot for the evening. They had no time to find the softest dirt under the shadiest tree next to the juiciest grass. They were thrown off their whole routine and slept on stones that stabbed at them all night just as their newly exposed problems stabbed at their restless minds.

It was during the sleepless night that the oldest elephant heard a noise that had confirmed his suspicions about the man. In the last shadows of the dying fire, the man’s shoulders were bobbing up and down as he cried. The elephant walked over to Everett. Spread out in front of the man was a pile of papers made up of bills, taxes, mortgage statements and letters from people telling the man what he needs to do with his life. They were so overwhelming that even the elephant had to sit down in their presence.

“What is all this, Everett? Why do you tell us with confidence how to fix our problems and yet you cry in the night instead of sleeping?”

“This… This is my life.”

“Your life? A pile of papers? Papers with powers enough to make you cry?”

“You don’t understand; you’re an elephant. My whole life has been a tragedy. I’ve spent my whole life thinking about the future. I’ve chased it for so long that now the past that I’ve missed out on calls to beckon me. I have debts to the past and nothing but obligations for the future. The present is filled with accountability. I cannot rest.”

“Why have you let these papers control you? Why can’t you just be?”

“It’s not that easy. I have hopes and dreams, or at least I did. I wanted a life other than my own. I would give anything now for everything to go away and to just be.”

“A life other than your own? How is that even possible? Your life is catered to you, your life is the most suitable condition in which to experience this world. From it, you will find the answers to everything within you. A life other than your own? It would be like walking around in someone else’s skin. You would never find comfort.”

The man’s tears dried at this point. The act of crying and letting his emotions flow freely had shed the layers of self-pride and skepticism. His heart was open, and he was able to receive what the elephant was saying purely and without it being filtered by his character. After a bit of silence and clarity, he spoke, “Yes, but… the others.”

“The others? What of them?”

“The Others; I see their lives, and my heart is filled with longing. I want to be like them, I want what they have — happiness. They tell me and show me how I should achieve it, and I strive to do so, but it never comes to me.”

“I just told you; another’s life would not suit you – it would not be right. Those people are happy with their lives because they are living their lives. You could have everything they have, and it would not make you happy. They may not even be truly happy; you may just be perceiving it that way – unhappy people project lies. You appeared to us as a cheerful person and now you sit here crying in the dark. You tell us we have worries and need to plan for them, but how has that worked for you? We are happiest as we are, not as others would have us be.”

The elephant felt sorry for this weak man in the dark. “Human, my best advice to you is to forget this notion of the others. Live your life and find happiness within it. Don’t compare it. Does an elephant grow jealous of the birds because they can fly? What would happen if I spent my whole life in pursuit of wings? Even worse, what would happen if I were to obtain those wings? The largest wings of imagination could not lift me off the ground, and even if they did, I would not be happy. The dirt under my feet and water in my trunk make me happy, whether or not I know it. Flying seems exciting when you watch birds, but wings would only carry an elephant away from the things that truly make it happy.”

With that, the elephant left and tried to rest until the morning light, and Everett sat in serious contemplation. He felt somewhat grounded, and it felt comforting. As he thought about the others, he had an urge to prolong this feeling as long as possible. He thought about them and the things that made him envious. In his mind, he attached wings to all these feelings. Some wings he attached to his feelings of envy and let them fly far away from his heart, other wings he attached to what he thought would make him happy and knew that if they grabbed a hold of him, they would take him far from himself and make him miserable. As he saw his wants and desires emigrate towards the heavens, he took comfort in himself, and on this cloud of comfort, he drifted to sleep.

When the man woke to the warmth of the sun, the elephants were gone. With his worries winged and flown away, he had slept as though he hadn’t slept for ages. He looked down at the pile of papers and thought about the circumstances they put on his life. For the first time when he looked at them, he did not feel an overwhelming sense of panic. He saw them as physical pieces of paper with no real control over his present being. The debts would be paid as they could be, but they couldn’t actually touch him. And as for all the notes and plans for the future, he did not see them with his life attached to them. He picked up the papers with his debts and packed them away for a time when he could deal with them. He then gathered up all the papers with his assorted worries and desires, piled them on the smoldering ashes and waited for them to catch flame. As their ashes floated and flew away, he turned his back to the worries of the future and walked away.

As he walked, he thought about his life. He thought about what it meant to be happy with himself and how he would learn to embrace it. He was lost in happy thought and walking in no real direction until he came to the river and heard splashing and laughter. He looked toward the source from where it came and could see the elephants in the distance. It was just last night that he tried to convince them of a world of troubles and here they were enjoying life without a care in the world. He thought of the words said by the elephant last night and knew that the worries he tried to instill in them had already been forgotten — that they were living in the moment as happy as could be. He watched the elephants floating in the water. They were as happy as if they could fly, but enjoying it within their realm. He looked at them in their joy and thought to himself how he would try to find happiness, even if he didn’t truly know its source. He thought to himself that morning, and every morning after, “Today I will be a swimming elephant.”