Water

Jerry had spent five years wandering the planet, seeking anything that felt like a sense of purpose. He had started his career in banking, succeeded immediately, but was miserable. Money never filled the hole inside him.

Now he was in a kayak on Lake Titicaca, high in the mountains between Peru and Bolivia. Deep beneath him were the ruins of a massive ancient temple; Jerry had felt drawn to it. But after a long day of floating above it... there was still no sign of his purpose.

He paddled back to the shores of Copacabana, where a young girl stood in the water, watching him. “Hi, Jerry,” she said.

She knows my name, he thought.

“I know your purpose,” she said.

Jerry paused, afraid to disrupt the sudden possibility of something out of the ordinary. “And… who are you?”

“Call me Brooke.”

Jerry got out and sat on the sand. He looked at Brooke.

“I’m ready to listen,” he said.

Brooke whispered, “Water.”

“Water,” said Jerry.

“Yes,” said Brooke.

“I’ve wandered for five years, searching for any semblance of meaning or purpose, and you’re telling me that the answer to my quest is… water?”

“Yes,” said Brooke. “That is correct.”

Jerry took a shallow breath. He was raw from years of hating his life and job. What he thought was wit often came across as the cynicism that filled him.

“Water, like the stuff that fills this lake.”

“Yes.”

“What comes out of the faucet at my hostel.”

Brooke nodded.

“I’m supposed to understand why water is the answer to my search?”

“If you need an explanation, I’d be happy to share it,” responded Brooke.

“That would be helpful” said Jerry.

“Water connects us all. It has magical qualities. It absorbs emotions. You can shape it with your prayers, wishes, mindset and energy. If you want to change your own ways of being, and the ways that other creatures are also being, use water.”

For a moment, Jerry’s logical business brain was ready to argue and debate. But then deep inside him something clicked. This felt right. Then another click, at a much deeper level. He felt a profound sense of relief.

Jerry looked back out at the lake. He had spent all that time being obsessed with what was under the lake’s water. He’d sailed across the Atlantic Ocean, twice. He once spent a summer on the shores of Lake Michigan. It never occurred to him that his answer might be as simple as: water.

Brooke took a few strides and dove into the lake. She swam underwater for a good long stretch, surfaced, then swam back towards Jerry. Her head came up, but her body remained submerged.

“This is the one thing that truly connects all life,” said Brooke. “Your society takes it for granted. You abuse it. You fail to understand that the water itself is more connected, powerful and sensitive than any technology on Earth. You are not separate from it; you are made of it.”

Brooke dipped beneath the surface once more, but Jerry still could hear her speaking.

“This is your destiny, Jerry. Tell others. Show them a better path. Treat us with respect.”

Jerry waited for two hours. Brooke never resurfaced.