Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Entry #88

Three Escalators to Hope
by Blany Ashwin Francis Rosario


Aaron glanced at his wrist watch. In 45 minutes a loud and clear message had to be sent to the world. The thought sent a shiver down his spine. He had to do this for his downtrodden community; someone had to take a bold step to make sure their demands got some attention.

Aaron was the chosen one. He had just entered the London airport to do the most daring thing he had never dreamt of. He headed towards the billboard.

On the first escalator was a mother with a new born baby who smiled at him. The child would not know it was his last smile. Aaron felt bad he had to do this to an infant as he slowly strode onto the next escalator.

His eyes fell on a blind boy lending a hand to an elderly woman. He was taken aback by the helpful gesture and felt humanity still existed. But his community made him walk further.

Aaron tripped and fell down with a thud. Immediately there were many extending their hands to get him on his feet. He felt as if all those hands were lending themselves to his community and not to him. He felt disgusted. Those people had given him and his community hope that goodwill hadn't disappeared.

Aaron rose to his feet. He left the airport feeling good that he had not blown up the airport. Yes, he was a suicide bomber. Those three escalators changed his mind. They gave him hope……

11 comments:

Sameera Ansari said...

Humanity never fails indeed.Good one :)

Lena said...

good that he changed his mind. people are not that bad after all :)

dipa said...

Nothing is so powerful as an insight into human nature . . . what compulsions drive a man, what instincts dominate his action . . . if you know these things about a man you can touch him at the core of his being.”
ur story was awesome , good , nice .. looking forward for more

bobsam said...

short and sweet..

«AM» said...

Cool the story made it. This story has deeper repercussions than one can imagine. Keep it up, Blany.

Anonymous said...

breif but mighty effective story.looks a complete story compared to other entries

Sarah Hina said...

An intriguing look into a very warped mind. That you discovered some humanity there does bring hope.

I liked how you demonstrated it was a gradual process. Many links of the chain. Effective dramatization of a topical and painful subject, Blany. Nicely done!

Rajesh said...

A very relevant story especially to people from my part of the world (India). Terrorists usually brainwash underprivileged youth to carry out suicide missions. Small gestures like these really could transform their lives.
The human side of the suicide bomber has been portrayed beautifully. The world will certainly be a better place if we could be accommodative of these rather helpless souls.
Very well written Blany! Keep it up!

Catherine Vibert said...

This was really quite excellent, and I concur with what Raj said. It is a vicious circle of oppression which makes the bomber and their community feel justified in their actions, actions that make their community more hated and oppressed justifying more violence. That circle can not be broken in my opinion without some major paradigm shifts by all sides that are affected. I'm glad your character found redeeming qualities in humanity and himself and was able to change his mind.

ceedy said...

Hope all suicide bombers around the world have brains to look around and change.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for being a wonderful part of the contest!