The challenge is to write about something you love. Whether it's Tetris, Star Trek, Football, or even yourself! One word, one page, one book, whatever. Just share your passion! Write it into a poem, a story, an academic paper... JUST WRITE! I wrote a koan, as my passion is the martial arts and zen (ironic that zen is a passion? who cares!) “Once again we find ourselves waiting, wondering, wishing. Why do you settle for less when you could battle for more? Why do you accept when you can reject? Why do you let go of things you should hold onto?” “Why would I do any of those things?” The wandering vagabond asked. “I don’t wait for life to happen; I experience it. I don’t settle for less; I take what I need and nothing more. I accept the just. The unjust does not exist in my world, for I right the wrongs in my path. Why should I hold onto anything that doesn’t keep me alive and well?” “But, don’t you seek to do better?” The statuesque business man inquired. His slicked back hair left the sweat on his forehead exposed. Ground could not be made against someone so irrational by nature. A man who would choose to both forsake the world and explore it completely likely deserved lockup in one institution or another. “What is better? It seems to me you are trapped in this world, surrounded by money, by objects, by people who use you as you use them.” “They are people who rely on me, as I rely on them. Besides, when you die, what will you have?” The vagrant stared for a moment. A peaceful smile overcame him. “When you are dead,” he asked the sharp-dressed man, “What will you need?”
His feet were soar and every step felt like a sledge wrapped in sandpaper was hitting them. The clothes he wore hanged loose on his skin, they were drenched in cold sweat, tempered by the chilly mountain air. He was sure that a longer break would make his shirt frosty and stiff. The straps of his backpack burned into his shoulders, the weight felt like it wanted to pull him into the ground. But he was close now, almost at the top. The peak stood high amongst it's peers, it was one of the friendly kind. A peak you could walk atop. As he reached the final step, he could see the edge. He quickly cleared his backpack from his suffering shoulder's, and put it on the ground. It felt like he had sprouted wings, a good jump could land him on the moon - so light he had become. The sight was unlike anything he had ever seen, miles upon miles of open and untouched landscape, peaks and green valleys with rivers of purest water. Was this not the roof of the world? The journey had been hell, but his goal had been heaven. And he now stood there, viewing the bliss of nature's creation. He was intoxicated by it's beauty. His bodily aches, muffled, by the fantastical images portrayed in his mortal eyes. His hike had been worth an exhausted body, to grant such a rewarding sight.
