man-god
by Tony Basso

There was once a man. He had a wife who loved him through the regular struggle endured by marriage, a son who regularly went fishing with him, and a daughter who, though she was prone to fits of odd behavior, was often very sweet to him.

This man was depressed, however. He was a philosophical type, drawn toward the mystical meaning of life. He pondered regularly the words of fabled men, and stared at drawings in the sand until his eyes hurt. And still he was not happy.

One day as he sat upon a hill he looked up and cried, "God! Why have you not given me what I seek?" And behold, before him stood He, and God did look down upon the Man and ask, "What do you seek?" The man replied that he searched for the meaning of life, and God quietly said, "I will provide you the answer you seek in short time."

The Man went home after a few hours of meditation, having not yet found the answer. He kissed his wife quietly on the cheek, and told her he had to go up to his room, and could not eat right then, even looking at the meal she had cooked. His daughter tried to tell him about her day and that she loved him, but he didn't hear her. His son mentioned the fishing trip they were planning, but all he had to say was, "Not now." And his wife worried about him.

For weeks this went on. He would go out and meditate, come home and meditate. They were not of any trouble for financial wealth, but this behavior worried the wife. Some nights he would not come home, but arrive early in the morning, disheveled and distressed. She feared the worst. She feared he was having an affair.

Some days later he was not home, and did not arrive home until two days hence. And this time he was unshaven and had managed to misplace his watch, which he later went to the field to retrieve. As he left his wife felt that he was returning to his mistress, and took the children and left. When he arrived he found a handwritten note, explaining their leaving. He was so distressed by this, that he became withdrawn. He didn't eat for three days.

Fifteen years later, lost and alone, the man died in his home, having, as he had every day since that first, searched for the answer and not found it. He found himself, within seconds, in front of the great gates. He spoke up and demanded an audience. To his surprise, he was granted one.

God asked him why he had come, and the man, in anger, cried out, "Why did you lie to me? Why did you not give me the answer to what I sought, as you promised?" God turned away for a moment, and then turned back. "I gave you your answer. That very night, when you came home, I gave you three. A wife, a son, and a daughter."

The man, in anguish, finally realized his life-changing error. He realized that sometimes the answers we seek are right in front of us, though we ignore these answers as too obvious. Sometimes we must open our eyes to see that which we seek when they are closed.