There was a man that was capable of changing who he was. He could alter his physical form based on his surroundings. No not a chameleon. For chameleons change for protection and safety; this man changed to his liking. He entered a toy store one morning, and became an 8 year old boy. He ran around the store and rode tricycles, picked up teddy bears and raced a toy car up and down the aisles. An employee walked up to him and asked him if he wanted to buy any of the toys he had been playing with. He looked up at the man and replied,
“No sir, for I do not have a job or parents, so I do not have any money.”
The employee looked at him with sympathetic eyes.
“Where are your parents?” The man inquired.
The boy looked up at him, dropped the remote for the toy car, and walked out of the store. As he exited the toy store he became a man once again and walked to his next destination.
There was a bar across the street so the man walked up to it. The bouncer at the door checked his ID, which informed the bouncer he was 22 years old. The bearded ball of muscle nodded and let him in the door. The man drank some beers and watched a football game on the TV. He wanted to drink more and approach a few girls that sat across from him, but he knew he had nothing to offer them other than a cheap run down apartment and a confused viewpoint on life. The more drinks he had the more money he was going to waste. So he asked for the check, dropped the cash he had made serving food that day on the receipt, and walked out of the bar.
He walked down the street to an office building. He entered the building and straightened the tie that matched the hankerchief that rested in the pocket of the expensive suit he had just transformed his jeans and t-shirt into. He waved at the secretary as if he had been working there for years and entered the large office that did an outstanding job displaying the overflowing bank account he controlled. He met with a few clients and made a few phone calls to set up deals that were going to make him more money than he knew what to do with. Next he surveyed the internet to buy himself an expensive watch, and then reclined in his leather chair. He looked around at what he had made for himself and felt dissatisfaction. The 22” Macbook computer screen showed his reflection and he stared at it for a second, before he raised himself from the chair tightened his leather wingtip oxford shoes and walked out of the office. He nodded at the secretary once more and left the building.
He had become himself again. Against the left exterior wall of the building lay a homeless man. His once brand new suit torn to shreds and the only shade he lay under was created by his shopping cart full of yesterday’s trash. The man tried to ignore him and walk past, but the homeless man called to him. He did everything he could to keep walking but the homeless man kept calling out.
He stopped, lowered his head with shame and approached the man.
“I have been watching you transform everyday. Why?” The man asked him.
The transforming man did not respond. He just thought about how he wished he could be somewhere else. The man on the ground knew he would not respond.
The homeless man reached for a piece of cardboard that lay next to him and grabbed a sharpie that rest next to it. He wrote something on the beat up, brown form of paper and showed it to the man, it read,
“It is healthy to remember who you were, and to search for who you will be, but while doing so, do not forget who you are.”
