Vanity

The young man selects the prefect smooth, round, flat stone on the shore of the lake.  He brushes it off with his hand and examines it carefully. Needless to say that the stone is very excited with all the attention.  It had heard of rocks having been picked up by such creatures and taken away from the lake, it overheard words like ‘aquarium’ and ‘flower garden’ and ‘bookends’ and it could hardly wait to discover that brave new world away from the lake.   After all, it had spent the last 10,000 years working its way to the shore for just this opportunity. 

The young man examines the surface of the water, extends his arm and flings the stone with the force and ease of someone who has done this many times.

“I’m flying!” exclaims the stone,  “I’m freaking flying!” It’s an incredible experience for the stone, it had never heard of flying stones before. It had heard of precious stones, broken stones and once it heard some horror story about something called gravel, but it had never heard of a flying stone.

“I am the most powerful, the most awesome, the most amazing stone in the world”  it shouted as it soared through the air a few inches above the water. Below, it could see the water shimmering and the blurry outlines of other stones on the bottom of the lake.  “Hey guys! Look at me!” it yelled at the rocks on the lake bottom. The angle of its trajectory started descending and the surface of the water came closer and closer.  Suddenly the rock skipped on the surface of the water and continued its flight.  For a moment it could clearly see other rocks on the bottom of the lake and imagined they were awestruck by its magnificent powers. “I can float! I can actually float! I’m the only floating rock in the world!” The second time it ascended into the air, the rock was giddy with its new-found grandeur.  By the time it skipped on the surface once again it was convinced it was the most magnificent rock in the universe. “I am the culmination of geological formation!” it shouted.

Then it skipped no more and quickly started to sink. Sinking was also a curious new sensation, but rather unpleasant when compared to floating and flying. As it landed on the bottom a moss and grime covered stone welcomed it with a “hey, whassup?” as the sediment that had been disturbed by its landing slowly settled on top of the newcomer.

Magnificence is an illusion of circumstances, in the end you’re really just a rock.