Can I Ask You Something? | Teen Ink

Can I Ask You Something?

January 24, 2010
By youroctober GOLD, Welland, Other
youroctober GOLD, Welland, Other
10 articles 0 photos 0 comments

Favorite Quote:
Elle est retrouvée. Quoi? L'éternité. La mer allée avec le soleil. -Arthur Rimbaud


Stop.
Just for a moment.
This won’t be long,
I promise.
No, really, stop.
I know you’re busy,
I know you have things to do,
Places to be,
People to meet and greet,
And I understand
That this is only a matter
Of happiness, of life,
And most likely of death,
But if you would just
Give me a moment
I’d like to have you
Look at yourself.

Spread out your hands.
Look at your fingers.
What have these hands
Created in the past
Day, month, year,
Lifetime?
What have they destroyed?
Now look beyond that,
Into the lines
That have been there
Since you were born,
And will be there until
You die.
What sort of power
Lies in those lines?
What are you capable of?
What can you do?

You have one chance at this.
You know that,
Don’t you?
Heaven, nirvana, hell and
Everything else aside,
I think we all agree that
You will only be you once.
No one else will ever get to
Live the life you are living now,
Or be you ever again.
Have you thought of that before?
That you are only being given
One chance,
Just one?

Still have those hands spread?
Good.
Look at them again.
Because those hands
Have only got one chance,
And it’s entirely up to you
What you do with them.
My advice?
Do everything possible
To make sure that chance
Isn’t wasted.
No regrets, alright?
No regrets.

Good.
Put your hands back down.
We’re done here,
That’s all I wanted,
Thank you for your time.
You can go back to
Doing whatever it is
You were doing,
But if I might offer
One last piece of advice?
Ask yourself what
You’re doing right now.
Ask yourself what
The consequences are,
What it will bring you,
What you’re creating
Or destroying.

A simple question
Can go a long way,
Can’t it?

The author's comments:
I'm sure you already know this, but sometimes it's good to remind yourself.

Similar Articles

JOIN THE DISCUSSION

This article has 0 comments.