The Ridiculous Man
The most ridiculous man in the world was birthed into light with the desire to right all the wrongs he saw around him. He started by pushing his family to make better decisions. To eat better. To exercise more. To not watch so much tv. They resisted him every step of the way.
He shared this desire with his friends. “I want you to live a better life,” he would say. All the while, they smoked, they drank, they cheated, they lied. They remained addicted to the next source of comfort, pleasure, or stimulation. But the world’s most ridiculous man could not prevent himself from trying.
Everywhere he turned he saw a troubled heart. “I might not have all the right answers,” he thought, “but why are so few people pursuing something better? Why are they so apathetic? They’re all miserable, but refuse to change!”
Distraught, he walked away from the world. He refused to settle for a life of distraction and emptiness, even if it meant his own starvation and death, and began wandering.
This sparked an interest in some. “Why are you wandering?” They asked. He would explain it one way sometimes and then another way at other times, in the hopes it might spark their awakening. But most didn’t understand.
The ridiculous man soon found the edge of the earth and took a picture of it. People didn’t realize they could find its end, so they began following him to see if he might lead them there. He would bring them to it, but they couldn’t see it. “It’s right there!” He would exclaim. But they would suddenly forget why they began following him in the first place.
This both infuriated and saddened the world’s most ridiculous man. It bothered him so much that he threw himself off the edge, spiraling down into the void of empty oblivion.
From there he plummeted back into his seated, cross legged vessel, with his hands resting on his knees. His eyes opened to paradise. The emptiness had stolen the desire to change the world from him.
Interestingly, now when he leads others to the edge of the earth, they can see it too.
