Friday, April 12, 2013

When One Door Closes....

     There was once a girl who lived in the dark. She spent her days searching through hallways looking for a door to go through. Through most doors were more hallways, but sometimes she would find a room filled with light. She was searching for light now, hoping to bring it into her world.
    One day she saw a light in the far distance, and began walking to it. She soon saw an open door. It was
gorgeous, full of light, possibilities, opportunities, and had the most intricate and beautiful designs to decorate it. She began running, she didn't want to miss this door. When she got there, gate keeper asked for her identification. The girl shook her head, puzzled that this particular door needed identification.
     The gate keeper became angry, asking her if she had even bothered to read the signs. The girl looked around the dark hallway. The hall was long and empty, no windows, signs, light, or even doors other than the one that she was standing in front of. She turned back to the gate keeper and tried to point this out. There are no signs or instructions for this door, I only saw the light coming through. The gate keeper shook his head again, obviously thinking the girl was dumb and trying to slip through where she wasn't wanted. The gorgeous door began to shut. As the light streaming through the doorway dimmed the girl threw her weight against it, not wanting to be left in the dark again, but she wasn't strong enough and the door closed.
    The girl stood in front of the beautiful door for a short time. She couldn't see it but she could still feel the designs under her fingertips, and possibilities still drifted like smoke from the crack underneath. You can't catch a possibility though, so she finally turned away, back to the dark. The girl felt in her pocket for her last remnant of initiative. There wasn't much left, but she couldn't see the way without light so she lit it up. The light sputtered softly and she began to slowly make her way back down the long hall.
     As she walked in the dark, with her initiative slowly burning away, a few tears began to fall. It isn't fair, I'm sure I could have gotten identification if the gate keeper had just waited. Another rebellious thought popped up, No one wants to give me a pass to their doors, I'm going to be stuck in the dark forever. The dark hallway that she had been so joyfully running down before now seemed oppressive, and she began to shiver in the dark.
     Finally, after hours of walking and with the remains of her initiative burning the tips of her fingers, she arrived at her waiting place. The girl was quite familiar with this place, she spent most of her time here. She blew out the initiative and tucked it back in her pocket. The waiting place had its own rather eerie glow. Lined around the walls of the waiting place were thousands of doors and hallways. Many were quite familiar to her, she had knocked upon most at one time or another. Few doors ever opened, but sometimes you were able to find a key.
     There was one hallway that she traveled down regularly and she did so now. This hallway was one she had opened for herself using hard work. Hard work was finite but it did get you places. There were a few closed windows that let in a little light, and if the girl peeked through she could see opportunities dancing. She didn't have the key to get in though, so she kept walking.
     This hallway was one she'd been working on for a particularly long time. Every so often there were doors that she had found the keys for, making the hallway longer and longer. With every door she opened, she found a small nugget of knowledge on the other side. These were valuable, and could be traded with gate keepers to enter particular doors. Right now she was working on a collection.
    The girl got to the last door and began once again to search in the dark. When she found the key she shouted with triumph and fitted into the last door. The door swung open, but instead of a room with light that she had expected, it was another dark room. She could faintly make out six more doors, branching out from this one. The girl realized she hadn't been anywhere close to completing this journey, and every door that she had spent hard work to open had only given her more locked doors. She stared into the darkness, and then closed the door firmly and marched back down the hall.
     Back at the waiting place the girl sat alone in the dark. There was no one around, and she was out of ideas. Ideas were like flares, lighting up the waiting place and would lead right up to doors. Those doors could usually be opened with a little effort, but without any ideas the girl couldn't see where to go. Right now she was as close as she could get to a rather plain door. It wasn't open now, but there was a timer on the door and the countdown said it would open soon. She hoped it would anyway, sometimes these timers were wrong and the door would never open. She didn't know if there was a dark hallway or a light room behind this door, but right now without initiative, ideas, enough knowledge, or other resources, she didn't know what else to do. So, she waited.
     After a time she heard someone walking up. The girl didn't know who it was, people rarely visited her here in the dark. Most of them had their own rooms that were filled with light, even her best friend was busy exploring hallways that the girl didn't have enough knowledge to pay to get into. The person came up beside her, paused, and to the girl's surprise, sat down.
     Are you waiting for this door too? The girl asked? She hoped this person wasn't, but she did want to be polite. Maybe this stranger had some ideas she could borrow.
    A voice laughed. It was a nice laugh. I'm not really interested in this door, I came to see you instead.
    The girl was puzzled at this. Why would you come to see me? I don't know you.
    You know who I am, you've just forgotten. The voice did sound familiar, but she couldn't place it, especially with too little light to see their face. I came to see if you understand how this place works.
    The girl laughed, a little bitter at this. Of course I understand how this works. I look for an open door, or a key, and then I open more doors. Sometimes I find a door filled with light, but most of the time it's just more darkness. I can pay with knowledge to get in to some doors, and others have special requirements, but most of the time I have to apply hard work and even then not all the doors open. 
     The voice in the dark seemed saddened by this. You understand some, but don't you realize that whenever a door closes, another one opens?
     I have never seen that happen. The girl replied, it just doesn't work that way for me. 
     Oh but it does, I saw you trying to get into the beautiful door, and wanted to make sure you got to the other one that was open for you.
     There's another door for me? I hurt my hands trying to keep the beautiful door open, and burned my fingers getting back here. I definitely didn't see another open door the entire time. The girl was beginning to get frustrated  who did this strange person with a familiar voice think she was? She wasn't blind or stupid, she worked hard to get what she did have, and doors never opened on their own.
     The voice asked, Did you look over there? There's a big door, even more beautiful than the first that's waiting for you. The girl looked. There was no open door, just several closed ones and long hallways filled with more darkness. There's nothing over there, I've never seen light from that part of my waiting room. 
    She heard a little rustling, then a hand brushed her arm. Here, take these.  She felt something light and metal in her hand, and she looked to see what they were. Glasses? 
     It's Hope, you can see farther with them on. The girl scoffed. I don't need hope, what I need is an open door. The voice replied gently, Just try. So, she took the hope and placed it on her face.
     For a while, everything looked the same, then little details began to pop out. Pathways worn into the floor by hundreds of other feet, details and carvings on the walls and doors around her. The door she was leaning against suddenly had a window inset that she hadn't seen before, and then, right in front of her, there was a door. An open door, streaming light through it. The light was colored, and different from what she had expected, but it was open. And it was beautiful. The girl jumped up, and walked towards the door, hardly able to believe it.
     She remembered the voice and turned back, but there was no one to be seen. Hello? I just wanted to say thank you....No response, but she noticed a piece of paper on the floor, folded around something. She picked it up, and out fell some initiative and something she had never seen before, courage. It was really beautiful, purple and clear, sparkling in the light from the doorway. She gazed at it for a moment before reading the paper.

When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.
Use hope, courage, and initiative to find the doors that are open,
And if you can't find an open door, crawl through a window

P.S. I noticed you were out of initiative so here's a bit more, and some courage to help.

The girl reread the paper, and suddenly she knew who it was she had been talking to. She smiled, then turned and walked through the open door.

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