Once upon a time, twin boys were conceived in the same womb. Weeks passed and the twins developed. As their awareness grew, they laughed with joy.
"Isn't it great that we were conceived? Isn't it great to be alive"?
Together the twins explored their world. When they found their mother's cord that gave them life, they sang for joy. "How great is our mother's love that she shares her own life with us"?
As the weeks turned into months, the twins noticed how much each was changing.
"What does this mean," asked the one.
"It means that our stay in this world is drawing to an end," answered the other.
"But, I don't want to go," said the one. "I want to stay here always."
"We have no choice," said the other. "But maybe there is life after birth."
"But, how can it be," responded the one. "We will shed our life cord and how is life possible without it? Besides, we have seen evidence that others were here before us and none of them have returned to tell us that there is life after birth."
As so the one fell into a deep despair, saying, "If conception ends with birth, what is the purpose of life in the womb. It's meaningless! Maybe, there is no mother at all."
"But there has to be," protested the other. "How else did we get here. How do we remain alive?"
"Have you ever seen our mother," said the one. "Maybe she just lives in our minds. Maybe we made her up because the idea made us feel good."
And, so the last days in the womb were filled with deep questioning and fear and finally, the moment of birth arrived.
When the twins were born and passed from their world inside the womb, they opened their eyes and cried for what they saw exceeded their fondest dreams.
This short story was well-crafted to parallel what many consider to be "life" (from birth to death), and how the twins perceived their futures. The twin that had a fear of the changes and chose to despair would have, if there was no life “after birth”, spent much of its life suffering instead of embracing what was given by the mother. The other twin was optimistic of life “after birth”, but also experienced difficulty understanding the future. However, the most noticeable change in the story was that both twins transitioned from living in the present to thinking about their future.
ReplyDeleteI found this short story to be very interesting how the twins thought of no life after birth.Thinking that the environment they were in was life. How they thought that the mere meaning of life was to be inside their mother, if at all she really existed. They were so wrapped up in the idea that life was just what was exposed to them inside, that they were so astonished to what they saw after their mother gave birth. Inside the womb, they were going through changes from the mother being from few weeks pregnant to nine months pregnant, just like how they will grow and prosper outside the womb. So in a way life hasn't really changed its purpose, just who you live it with and what relationships you create and how you live it.
ReplyDeleteThis short story really caught my attention. I would have never thought of making a metaphor of life and death from life in the womb of unborn children. Everyone has their own views about death and reading this story just kept making me think of the saying that life is too short. The twins made it seem that life was even shorter than what it really. Maybe to the twins, because being in the womb with each other, warm and secure, they felt that this is what life should be like and this is as good as it gets, so anything other than that must mean death.
ReplyDeleteThis is an incredible story. I have a twin sister, and this is such an amazing aspect of the relationship. It also has amazing way of displaying how naive we are about death and gives a great inclination towards reincarnation. This is at least the way that I viewed it. I liked the story very much and even read it to my twin and she felt the same way.
ReplyDelete