Man Upon a Rock

by Kimberly Raiser

“Time is a hideous thing. We either want to destroy it because of its abundance, or we chase after the inadequate amount that presents itself when we most need it. It chases us, and yet wades around us like an empty ocean. It is truly our mortality that gives it the power that we allow it. After all, is it not our mortality that gives us that thrill of living on the edge and truly feeling alive? But were we not to fear the end, would we not live?” said the man upon the rock.

“You are blocking my sun,” thought the rock.

“And is time not a thing created by man?” said the man.

“And your pants are wet,” thought the rock.

“And whoa, the trouble of man contemplating the beginning. Where do we come from? What purpose do we serve? Why are we here? Why can we think? Who are we to give ourselves such importance?” asked the man.

“Look, a yellow-spotted squirrel!” noticed the rock.

“And who are we to make ourselves so important that we perpetuate our own existence because we think we are God’s greatest gift?” said the man.

“No, it was just a grasshopper,” noticed the rock.

“Wasn’t it man who wrote the Bible? Are we simply a disease upon the earth infesting it like a plague until the earth tires of us, and rids itself of its unwanted growth?” said the man.

“I think it’s supposed to rain,” thought the rock.

“And were we not to have all this technology, we would most certainly still think so highly of ourselves. Why yes, we have proven that time and time again,” said the man.

“I want to move,” thought the rock.

“After all, we only now feel enlightenment. There are some humans that believe we should be responsible for things around us, like our planet, and all of nature. These are the same people that believe that we are causing global warming, that we have so much of an effect on the earth that we will change the climate. And make it bad for whom?” said the man angrily.

“What was I thinking?” thought the rock.

“Make it bad for us! Oh forget the fact that the world has been here for millions of years! Forget the fact that ice ages happen! It’s normal! The world has been hit by meteors, been overrun with giant reptiles, and continents have moved! Who do we think we are!?” The man yelled, his blood pressure rising, his hands breaking into a sweat, his face turning red.

“Oh look, a rainbow,” thought the rock.

The man suddenly calmed, and looked down upon the rock that he was sitting on. He looked perplexed. “I wonder if rocks are alive?” he thought out loud. “I wonder, if perhaps they move so slowly, that we just don’t notice. I mean, there are so many things that we do not understand in this world, in this universe. What about colors we don’t see, and living things we could not possibly recognize.”

The man just sat there for the longest time, saying nothing, exasperated by himself.

“I think I moved!” said the rock.

[Author’s note: first published by Silverthougt Press and won the “Readers Choice” award for the August 18, 2006 issue. It has subsequently appeared with “Cerebral Catalyst.”]

[Editor’s note: The punctuation has been standardized in this version.]