The Path

The Path

Jimmy Castro

“Walk the path”, he told me.
“But I’m afraid to walk it,” I answered.
“What are you afraid of?”, He asked while he looked at me curiously and with a certain paternal tenderness.
“I am afraid to make mistakes. To err in my choice”, I answered, while wondering if that was exactly what I was afraid of.
“Choose any path. If you are lucky, you will make a mistake. If you’re not so lucky, you’ll pick the correct one”. And as he was saying these words, he finished looking away and was now observing the landscape. I don’t know if he was preparing his next answer, or if he was looking for it on the horizon.
I reflected as quickly as I could. I didn’t want the conversation to lose rhythm, or that energy that I felt flowing between the swaying of the words in the harmony of the interrupted silence, would dissipate. I wanted to understand, and in that, I realized that what he was saying made no sense.
“I think you said it backwards”, I commented, “you mean that if I’m lucky I’ll choose the right one, and if I’m not so lucky, I’ll choose the wrong one”.
He turned his head back and stared at me, still with fatherly tenderness. His gaze jumped between my eyes and then he turned his head a second time, saying, “I said it correctly”.
Doubt assailed me.
“You must choose any path and follow it”, he told me. “If you do so, when you go through it you will learn, observe, feel, and if you are lucky, make mistakes. And if that happens, in time you will realize that it was not the path you wanted to follow. And then you will know that it was the other path that you really longed for, with certainty, without a doubt. And you will allow yourself to do something new. And a path will open for you, even if it is not the time to go that way. If you chose the right one, that will be the only path you will take, and your options will be limited. You will only know one path. By making mistakes you will have the opportunity to follow several”.
I reflected on his words. When he finished speaking, he didn’t make a big gesture, he didn’t take a deep breath, he didn’t look at the horizon or raise his chest, nor did his hand rest on my shoulder. He just turned his head and began to walk away, after a few seconds I felt that he was not going to return, so I blurted out: “Aren’t you going to say goodbye?”
“And why am I going to say goodbye to someone who I’m going to run into all the time?”, He answered.
“And when do I start walking the path?”, I asked, already out loud.
He stopped for a moment, and turned to me, still in the distance. He smiled at me: “You’re already doing it”, he told me.

Jimmy Castro (Venezuela)- He currently lives in Argentina. He has been nominated for and won various literary awards.