Changing Current

The scales were teal-blue, the purple mane alive in the summer breeze. As vivid as the torrential currents of a river, the dragon floated through the sky. On the meadow below, daisies and mums, and a girl with sky-blue eyes directed up, following the dragon’s movements.

She was a traveller of a previous life, unchanged by the amount of wonder she carried — but a penetrating emptiness emerged from her soul. Bugs were chirping as the dragon landed on the grass.

“Live life beyond the surface,” it said. Its voice sounded as powerful as the jet stream above the Atlantic Ocean. The girl looked up at the dragon with recognition.

“Your people stay as boulders in the riverbed, but don’t become one of them. Be the water that drives the current, warps the earth and crosses continents. Become as dynamic as the planet you were born on. The river is your blessing. Make it yours.”

Lighter than air, the dragon rose back to cloud level, only the flattened grass and lulling words testimonies of its presence.

The girl heard the truth of the dragon’s words reverberate through her brain. And that day, her current of life shifted.

Years later, sitting as the first female president of her country, she remembers that we all receive cues to become the very best versions of ourselves. But only we, the masters of our lives, can shape that path — like a river flowing into the ocean.