Unfolding Stories

Sunshine in California. Rain in New Jersey. Clouds in the Hague, and a heat wave in Carolina.

Every great story starts somewhere. In some beaten woods of our imagination, or memory store of our mind. An experience ignites an idea. The idea catalyzes a sequence of inspiring thoughts. The story unfolds. Words are scribbled on paper; they wind and turn themselves upon a path that becomes more defined with each sentence. The story, inspired, quite happily travels upon its course; it winds every which way in pure intuition of its destiny. The words lend themselves to the terrain of the imagination; turning, spinning, and flipping on the branches of the imagination. Then experience arrives, and changes perspective. The sun filters through the pattern of the trees in a new way. Time and circumstance offer new insight that weave itself into the fabric of the story. The story seems forever changed. Yet the story is unaware. Then a moment comes, when the path muddies; the story becomes aware of the heft in its feet and the distance it has traveled. It breathes heavily. "I have set upon an unknown, unexpected course," the story says while standing still overwhelmed by the dense forest of the imagination. "Where shall I go from here. I cannot see the path. The sun has faded, and the fog is rolling in." The story pauses in mindfulness of nature's transformation. "Anywhere," the story says to itself. So it picks up its foot, trudging slowly through the mud and fog and meanders on the slow course toward destiny. As it meanders, the story reflects on the path it has traveled; the wonders it has seen, the exotic places it has visited, the wild adventures it has experienced, and the amazing people that have shared its path. "Great stories, the truly epic ones, often house within themselves a series of greater stories. For each detail of a great story has its own story. Each person a life, each place a tale, each experience a meaning," the story resounds. Great stories, are just part of a greater story, one that never really begins or ends. But one that lives everyday. California. New Jersey. The Hague. Carolina. The story travels its unfolding path toward destiny. It continues, in search of truth, and meaning. Today, we play Japan.