Tuesday, April 07, 2009

red riding

red riding hood: is it a fairy tale or just a bedtime story?


When you think about it, there's a little Red in all of us. Hood or no hood. We are the little Red in the hood. And all of us we're told by Mother to send a basket to Grandmother. Before leaving, mother told us to not stray away from the path. Just follow the path. You'll be at Grandma's in no time.

Unfortunately, the woods can be very tempting for little Red. The flowers. The animals. The waters. The unknown. Its just too tempting. Inevitably, little Red will go astray. And hey, little Red don't play by the rules. Are you going to take the path all the way to Grandma's or would you take the time to get dirty in the woods? Is Grandma really sick? Why the hell is Grandma living all alone in the middle in the woods? Is there something wrong between Mother and Grandma? What's it going to be, little Red?

And then, there is the Wolf. There is a wolf in the woods. There are wolves in the woods. If little Red follows the path, she could probably beat the wolf to Grandma's. Saves the trouble and the woodchuck could go on chucking woods peacefully. Or little Red could wander into the woods and run into the Wolf. Instant drama, if you'd ask me. These wolves, they don't always have sharp, teeth, sharp claws, long ears and always hairy. We all have our own wolves. Our very own personal wolves. We will encounter these wolves someday. We will deal with these wolves. Do we depend on the woodchuck to be there in time for a heroic rescue? Do fight these wolves ourselves? Do we make friends with them? Do these wolves bargain with us? What do we have to bargain?

The path Mother told us to go through sounds ideal. Sounds safe. Sounds boring. We are bound to go into the woods. We are bound to meet these wolves. We must face these wolves. We, little Red, need to learn lessons only can be learned from a journey in the woods. I recognize the fact that many might not be able to return to the path. Many might not survive the encounter with the wolf. Many might question how Grandma come to be the way she is now. Many will question the path.

The next time you're going to Grandma's, take a detour into the woods. Why not? What do you have to lose? Are we not curious of what adventure lies ahead? Go. Our wolves are waiting for us.

Tread lightly, Red dearest.




Inspired by The Path from Tale of Tales

2 comments:

Amanda Christine Wong said...

two roads diverged in the woods...

Zen said...

yet one is untrodden...