The Storyteller's Secret

by Sejal Badani

But perfection may be an illusion and power a liability.

She struggled to find herself while remaining loyal to the expectations of those around her.

strength.” “Strength for what?” His face showed genuine interest. Amisha considered all the reasons she prayed. Neema and her story of sacrifice came to mind. “To have the strength to accept all that life offers—good and bad.”

“It is good you paid so much—no price is too high for a gift from your heart.”

He said sometimes our fiercest battles are the ones we fight with ourselves.”

“I am talking about her heart,” he corrects. “As a human, she was imperfect, as all humans are. But her heart always fought to do right by others, even when she was not doing right by herself. Therein lies her perfection.”

History shows us we need labels to help define our place. For hundreds of years, people have categorized others as less so they could feel like more. Color, gender, class, religion, physical handicaps, sexual orientation, and pedigree are just a few ways in which one group is divided from another. For every person who stands superior, another must be inferior. But what does it say of us as a human race when we push others down for our own needs? Does it accomplish the intended goal or simply give rise to a pattern of behavior that can never be broken? What if we all stood equal in one another’s eyes and felt pride at our reflection? I speak of utopia and chance being ridiculed, but sitting in a village thousands of miles from everything, I will roll the dice. For one day only, maybe we could put aside our differences and come together in our sameness. For one day, we could see that past all the variations, we are all the same with similar hopes, dreams, fears, strengths, and weaknesses. For one day, we could stand together, not apart, and treat others as we would hope to be treated. History teaches us that day will never come. Our differences give us purpose—both good and bad. Some see it as an opportunity to strive for what they aren’t, while others take it to belittle those who frighten us. In the vein of my earlier appreciation for dancing, I would imagine a world where music defines us. The fall and rise of the tempo would dictate our moves, and our hearts and minds wo...