The Girl Who Didn’t Know What To Say

Written by Gary Austin

There once was a land of beauty far beyond the imagination of anyone who had never seen it.

In time the land was discovered by those who had never seen it and they marveled at its beauty. They were people who believed in the value of hard work and progress. And so they built buildings upon the land they considered beautiful and in the buildings they created things that improved the lives of all. And these builders were revered and rewarded for their imagination and hard work.

And there was a young girl who lived in this land who could imagine vistas of beauty, even when those vistas were hidden by the buildings that were built to create things that improved the lives of all. And those visions filled her dreams. So she spent her life seeking and sometimes finding the hidden beauty she imagined.

One day as she walked along a mountain path with her father she looked down and saw a valley untouched by human hands and filled with beauty far beyond anything she had ever imagined. Her father was a builder and he had worked hard all his life and had built buildings where people made things that all could enjoy. And her father was revered and rewarded for his life of imagination and hard work.

And the young girl said to her father, “Look at how beautiful this place is!”

And her father said, “Yes, but what good is it?”

And the young girl didn’t know what to say. And so she said nothing.

For years and years the young girl never spoke again, because she didn’t know what to say. And so she became a young woman and she didn’t know what to say.

One day as she walked along a river looking for hidden beauty, she came upon a tattered old man who was dying. The old man clung tightly to an old beat up guitar that seemed older than he himself.

The young woman didn’t know what to say, so she gave the old man some water from the river.

The old man struggled to say something. And when he finally managed to speak he thanked her for the water and then he died.

The young woman buried the old man deep in the river sands and she prayed a silent prayer to the river. In her silent prayer she asked the river to watch over the old man’s grave.

She knew the old man would never play his guitar again, so she took it and continued her walk.

And the young woman who didn’t know what to say came upon a vista even more beautiful than anything she had ever seen or imagined.

She sat down and she knew what to say. She struggled to speak but her words came out as a song. And she picked up the old beat up guitar and she strummed it as she sang.

She had never played a guitar and she had never sung but she played and sang anyway.

And for the rest of her life she sang of the beauty she imagined. She continued to seek beautiful hidden vistas and when she found them she sang of them.

The young woman grew old. She never spoke again, but she never stopped singing. She knew what to say.

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