Streetlight

8

It's the dawn of a new day, like any other.
The sky is still predominantly blue, but it's starting to shift to purples, oranges and yellows. Stars are slowly fading away, as the sun takes their place.

Yet, as liveliness starts to spread on another fraction of the Earth, the entire city seems to be dead, frozen in time.

There's not a soul walking on the streets, nor wind to, quite literally, move things around. The only thing showing a hint of life was an old, weary streetlight, that would often buzz in certain occasions. Was it random? Was it triggered by something? No one really knows. And yet the streetlight flickers still, as if trying to tell something.

Did you know? Simple things around us can hold so many stories behind them.
Some are joyful, some are tragic, some are everywhere in-between.

Some may wonder, for no reason in particular, if they have anything in common with each other. And I say they do.
What, you may ask?

What could a story about a grandma showing love to all the people she comes across, have anything to do with a story about a girl showing compassion to a guy getting chased?
What could a story about a couple rejoicing and showing forgiveness to each other, have anything to do with a girl helping her closest friend with intrusive thoughts?
What could a story about a mother showing affection and care to her son, despite her piles of work, have anything to do with someone learning to be more patient with himself?

The answer is Humanity.

The everflowing Humanity that some people have for the simple fact they're here.
It's found when you share your wounds with others that listen. The anger that boils in you when frustrated. The fear that overwhelms you when you have to go on. The sadness that seems to take over your entire life.
It's found when you smile and care for the things around you. The hope in your heart that always dies last. The will to face what's ahead of you. The power to love the people that stay.

The streetlight holds so many stories behind it.

It witnessed thousands of stories, with people living their normal, simple lives, yet each one was interesting to it. Feeling every emotion coming from each human, as the former grew so intensely. Feeling their neverending thoughts as time passed..

And the streetlight couldn't really hold everything in, as it always flickered when becoming most attentive, or when it almost saddened each time he realized a story had ended its own chapter.

And yet, those tales full of wonder, oh how they inspired it.

A deep curiosity - or even better, a deep desire - kept driving the streetlight each day, as it longed to see more and more, to understand the complexity of those weird living beings that somehow took control of the entire world. They are everywhere, and so present, yet so very hard to understand.
The streetlight always wondered how it must be to feel their emotions, to hear those thoughts, despite the nature behind them.

'How wonderful it must be to live as a human.'

Oh how often it used to imagine how things would be like if the streetlight had been one of them. The streetlight understood that to fully grasp those stories, it had to be in one. Despite the hurt that could be ahead, it is still mesmerizes, to this very day, by the beauty that it got to see.
Maybe, maybe the streetlight managed to see enough Humanity, that it could become... Humanity? Oh how far off from reality.
But maybe, just maybe. If it puts just a bit more hope, a bit more effort.

It... wishes?

A sudden realization. Oh something he just didn't notice before. The streetlight, the unfeeling streetlight, felt emotions?
Could it be?