The Grocery Store

So your walking down the isle at a grocery store, and you are looking for something but you just don't know what it is. The feeling that you are forgetting something is gnawing at the back of your head. As you were wondering what the heck you forgot, you snap back and see something that catches your eye. You cant really tell what it is, but you look up and down the isle and realize that your in the cereal isle, millions and millions of boxes and bags lining the shelves, all full of wholesome nutritional value. Then there was this, you don't really know what it is, from the looks of it. It looked like just a brown paper covered box. Something was definitely strange about this box. Unlike all the other cereals, whose boxes were covered in bright shades of blues and reds and yellows and purples, all with their fancy letters and names, and some that weren't doing so well had SALE! posted on them, but not this box, this box didn't even have a price tag. This one was plain, not something that would catch your attention, unless it happened to be in the exact circumstances that it was in; it didn't fit in with the rest. This had to be some kind of crazy marketing ploy. Seriously, who would design a box of cereal with nothing on it, and then not even price it. Who ever did it, must have known what they were doing because it worked. It caught your attention, just a plain little box, with nothing on it, no bright cheery colors, no SALE! tag, not even a name. Reluctantly, you pick up the box, telling yourself that there must be something on the other side. You turn the box over but there was nothing. As you study the box, you realize there was one word on it, but you wouldn't have noticed it if you hadn't been looking for something. One word, in small simple letters, all lower case, black, 12-point, Helvetica font, that read surprise. This completely baffled you; you had no idea what to think of this box. All you knew was that this box didn't belong. You pick up the box and place it in your cart, right on top, next to the head of lettuce and the canned sweet corn. You go and check out. Then you go home, wondering to yourself, what in the world could have been in that box. You pull in the driveway, park the car and carry in the groceries. You sit down at the table and pull out the box. The simple brown paper box with the word surprise on it. You study it a little more intently until you cant stand it any longer, and you open the box...

The Day

Until today your life had been pretty bland, nothing special. You just lived your life, what else were you supposed to do. You have lead a perfectly content life, making all the right choices never really making any extreme decisions, except that time that you decided to have a couple of drinks on new years, whoa that was crazy. You kept worrying about how bad of a hangover you would have the next day that you drank five bottles of water, just to fight off the dehydration. Now, just because you haven't made any extreme decisions does not mean that you haven't had any fun. Life has thrown you its share of fastballs; it's just that surprisingly enough, you have always found a way to catch them. Life has given you lemons, and you have made lemonade. And plenty of it. Now, here you sit, in your bed on just an average Monday morning. You got up, took a shower, got ready for work, and grabbed a cereal bar on your way out the door. Life was simple, uncomplicated and organized. You liked it that way. But today was the day that everything changed. Today you would make a decision that will determine the events of the rest of your life, and the lives of all the others around you. Normally you tried to stay away from big decisions like this one. You don't really like to make decisions that involve a lot of people, and the thought of making one that would change the entire world never would have crossed your mind. Until today. It was just a regular day at work, relaxed and rather easy compared to the last few weeks. After work you decided to get to the grocery store, after all you were a little low on milk, and you wanted something new for dinner tonight. You never imagined that you would be here now, sitting at the table, looking into a brown cardboard box with the simply lettered word "surprise!" written on it. But here you are and there is the box. Your hands maneuvered the box as your eyes surveyed it. Then you started to break the seal on the top, or what you thought was the top, and a strange glowing light started to illuminate the entire room. The light was so bright it made it seem as if it were the only light in the entire world around you, you could no longer see anything except that which was illuminated by the light. You took a look around and then your eyes fixed on what was inside…

The Thoughts

"A lifeless passion, a passionless life." The words resounded in your head as you lay on your back in your bed. You thought to yourself, 'what could that mean.' You looked at the clock 6:58. Two minutes before you had to get up to start your day again. You thought to yourself about the meaning of life. What is it and how does one go about answering a question that nobody knows. This was the third time this week that you have been awoken before the alarm clock sounded, and this did not make you happy at all. As if the extra two minutes of sleep would have really mattered. Life was simple, you made choices, and went about your day, everyday, until all the days seemed to blend into one, one long day with several breaks that everyone took to sleep, one long day known as life. You wondered out loud, what is the point. Everyday the same old thing, get up go to work, and go home, to sleep and do it all over again, with little variations. That was what kept you going, the variations, sometimes it was a trip to the gas station on the corner, or a trip to the grocery store, which was going to happen today. If it was the weekend it would sometimes consist of a date, with the usual character that you know you would never end up with in the long run, but you go on the date inevitably because it keeps your edge, it keeps you knowing that you still are not to old to get married. You can still think that you are too young though, and besides there is always that thought in the back of your head that you could find the right one, and what if this was it. Was that the meaning of life, work sleep and a few variations? Is this the sum of all your dreams and aspirations? Is this what everyone lives for? Is this the way it will continue until you eventually die? It can't be. So you continue on thinking. A lifeless passion, a passionless life. Life was meant to have passion, at least that was what you thought when you were young. When the ways of the world had not fully grasped you, when you were the only one who's opinion mattered in your life. What was the point now? How much input do you have in your life now? You have lost your passion for life, but does that mean that you have lost life? Or is it because you have lost life that you no longer have passion? The box radiates with the light. The light that was so warm and inviting, the light that felt like nothing else mattered, captivating. You sat there and even though the light was so bright, it did not hurt your eyes. Suddenly it dawned on you. Life was not meant to have a meaning put in it, you were meant to have a meaning that you put your life into. It was like all those stories of the legendary heroes that seemed to give up everything for what they believed in. They gave up their every possession and even their lives for a meaning, for a purpose, for their passion. Their life was filled with passion because they were passionate about their life. Where were you? Suddenly the room disappeared and only the light surrounded you. You realized that your life was just that, life, it had no passion, and quite frankly you had no passion for life. Maybe there was something greater you were meant to do, something that those rare legends had found. There was something missing that your classic, Americanized, Worldly culture had dulled down. Where was the passion? Where was the life? You dreamt of great things when you were a kid, that life was full of great things. Where was it now? How many years have you wasted away doing the same old thing, with little variations. Now it was time for something new; now it was time for something Great. Passion. Life.The alarm clock was going off, you opened your eyes, and looked at it. 7:01. The blinking blue numbers flashed as you turned off the alarm, and woke up to a new day, a new dawn, a new beginning, a passion for life, and a life to put your passion into. Live.