Short Story: The life of a lowly worm was worth perhaps no more than a thought to Fred.
By emptychair
@innertalks (23746)
Australia
July 16, 2019 10:45pm CST
It had been raining, and Fred was walking towards the bin, to place some rubbish bags in there from his office. Looking downwards, as he walked, he saw an emaciated, long, elongated worm, struggling on the concrete surrounds there, to get back to the grassy area, and garden bed, surrounding the concrete square, used as a luncheon area for the workers to congregate in.
Fred thought to himself that his hands were full now, but on the way back, he will stop, and pick up that poor worm, and place it back in the garden soil again, in the garden bed, surrounding his building.
When Fred walked back, only a minute or two later, it was gone though.
Had some other walker had the same idea, had a bird gotten it, or just how did it move itself so quickly, across such a large expanse of concrete, Fred was thinking to himself then?
Fred then walked off, but suddenly, thinking to himself something terrible, another thought came to him, and looking under his size 11 clodhoppers, he saw the squashed worm was still stuck to his right boot leather there, dead.
"Poor worm," he thought to himself then, in retrospect, "but that's life, that's death, too bad."
To prolong life takes love, and love needs usually to be given straight away, or the opportunity passes you by, as happened here to Fred.
Photo Credit: The photo used in this article was sourced from the free media site, pixabay.com
The early bird often catches the worm, but early enough love lets it go.
7 people like this
6 responses
@innertalks (23746)
• Australia
17 Jul 19
Yes, actually, that happened to me the other day, but in my case, the worm was not under my boot.
I assumed that a lady, sitting nearby, must have picked up on my thought, and placed the worm back to a safe place, in the garden.
I hope that she washed her hands, before she went on eating her sandwich though...LOL...
2 people like this
@innertalks (23746)
• Australia
17 Jul 19
Thanks, I get some satisfaction from writing such short stories, or fables. Usually, I base them on some incident in my own life.
@eileenleyva (27555)
• Philippines
17 Jul 19
@innertalks I assumed that image is Fred.
2 people like this
@innertalks (23746)
• Australia
17 Jul 19
@eileenleyva No, I imagined him to be an office worker in my story.
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@innertalks (23746)
• Australia
17 Jul 19
Yes, maybe Fred was also the name of the bird in my photo.
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@yanzalong (19091)
• Indonesia
17 Jul 19
Worm is prey to other animals. That's its fate.
2 people like this
@innertalks (23746)
• Australia
17 Jul 19
Yes, unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on where we stand from, our own viewpoint, or the worms, we are all linked to the fate of others too. We are all connected by fate, karma, or life, whatever we might call it.
1 person likes this
@chrissbergstrom (10767)
• Banks, Oregon
23 Jul 19
Very nice story thanks for sharing, i have always loved that saying the early bird often catches the worm
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@innertalks (23746)
• Australia
23 Jul 19
I like that saying too. I have always been an early riser, and so was my mum before me. I like to get up early, and at it, finish my work in the morning, and then have the afternoon to relax.
2 people like this
@innertalks (23746)
• Australia
23 Jul 19
@chrissbergstrom Yes, my sentiments too, exactly so.
2 people like this
@chrissbergstrom (10767)
• Banks, Oregon
23 Jul 19
@innertalks It's nice to get things done early so we have less to worry about later in the day.
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@Shiva49 (28404)
• Singapore
17 Jul 19
Yes, we need a shift towards higher consciousness than getting carried away by those that are mundane and routine.
Whenever I have retraced my steps to do a kind act, I have felt benefited from such actions that leave lasting and soothing impression on my conscious. All are our creators children and we all have a duty to help each other, at least not harm another - siva
1 person likes this
@innertalks (23746)
• Australia
17 Jul 19
Thanks, siva.
Yes, sometimes, we can still retrace our steps to do the kind act. All benefit from such actions, as kindness is a part of love.
At other times, we cannot retrace our steps, and the milk has been already spilt, by the time we go back to try to do the right thing.
With increasing consciousness and wisdom from living and life, we can all learn to do the kind act, the right thing, the loving thing, more often, in the first instance, rather than at a later rethink, when we try to retrace our steps to repair damage inadvertently done, and not realised at the time.
The right step, at the right time, is usually better than one step backwards, then a retried jump forwards.
Better to get it right the first time, if we can do so, but if not, it is always good too to try and retrace our steps to endeavour to try to patch things up, and to do things right from there, if we can still do so, and if we can no longer undo the damage caused by our delay, well, providing a comforting presence, and love even then, will help to lessen the effects of any damage too, in most cases, unless, in the worm's case here, when it is really then already too late.
1 person likes this
@innertalks (23746)
• Australia
18 Jul 19
@Shiva49 Yes, most of us sometimes try to avoid such "weeds" growing in our paths, even our thinking of them as being "weeds", should show us something too though.
The Christian Bible tells us that each of these persons is our neighbour in need, so if we can, we should try to help others, where we can do so, but on the other hand, we should also look out to discern the needy widow from the greedy tax collector types.
We need to be sure sometimes of the genuineness of persons but we can often feel this from our contact with the love in them, from the love in us, if they are real, or not.
I say this because right now in Australia, there are planeloads of Chinese "tourists" being sponsored to come here by a "manager", who are setting themselves up in the large cities here, as professional beggars.
They wear an ugly looking overcoat, but underneath, are wearing designer clothes. They can make upwards of $600 Australian a day, due to the well-known generosity of Australians, which they send back to China. It's far more than which they could make over there, in some sweat factory.
1 person likes this
@Shiva49 (28404)
• Singapore
18 Jul 19
@innertalks Yes Steve, we should get our priorities right and make it a practice rather than as forced and guilt oriented.
I had in mind one experience where I used to pass a lady at the train station. I thought she was rather aggressive in seeking alms and tried to avoid her. Then I realised I should not judge her and started helping her with some cash. After a while, she was no more seen and I felt gratified that it was “better late than never”.
Now I look out for another as he is a rather reluctant panhandler but I had seen him eking out a living the hard way - siva
1 person likes this
@innertalks (23746)
• Australia
17 Jul 19
Yes, thanks. The bird ate the worm, but not Fred.
Yes, if we delay love, or the giving of love to others, we usually cause something non-loving then to take place too, even if inadvertently.
2 people like this
@innertalks (23746)
• Australia
17 Jul 19
@Janet357 Thanks. No, it's just a hobby, and my way to express some creativity.
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@Janet357 (75638)
•
17 Jul 19
@innertalks i like the way you write a story. do you write for a living or this is just a hobby?
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