CHERRY ON THE CAKE
I’m sitting. Holding the cup. Staring at its content. Occasionally looking through the window. Observing the buildings and people as the bus rushes past them.
My gaze always returns to the cup’s content. Something about it is alluring. I could not tell what.
Then something drew my attention. The cherry. It was not a cherry though. A grapefruit. And that was it. It stood out. Not because it wasn’t a cherry. Because it was doing something big in the entire cup. Something I could not summarize — maybe because it was already doing the summary. And more.
I picked it out. And once it was gone, the remainder of the cup’s content was bare. Naked. And maybe afraid. Quite a number of flavours present. Chocolate, vanilla, strawberry. Some cream, loaded with flavours I do not know. However, they still looked bare even together.
I wondered. Why? Why did the grape — in most cases the cherry? Why did it have so much of an importance? Why did it sort of define the entire set up? What made it so? Still haven’t figured that bit out though.
There is so much going on in the cup. Yet, in the absence of one minor part, the whole set up feels it lacks something big. And the irony… The irony is that;
Its significance isn’t really noticed unless it is absent.
And that’s the cherry on the cake.
And that resonates. In all aspects of life.
People. Objects. Tools. Theories. And whatever.
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There is always one factor. One faction. One piece that doesn’t only summarizes the whole deal, but does some more. Maybe it makes it more meaningful. I do not know. Maybe more beautiful, probably.
And that’s an important idea I had to know.
Recently, I complimented someone. I told them something I haven’t ever told anyone. I did not exaggerate. I did not only mean it in that moment. It was so genuine because I search deeply through my brain and I could not find the exact adjective to describe who they are.
And I found myself saying; “You are a cherry”
And I think that is the best compliment I have ever given.
We can be cherries. In work, school, family. Among friends. And importantly, our own lives. We can be cherries.
Does not mean we are the best. Or are striving to be. It does not mean we wish to be the only factors that give meaning. It does not mean we hope our absence leaves massive and palpable holes.
The goal is to be enough, at least in a subject. To make others feel comfortable. To make them feel less naked. To make them feel less afraid.
To make them know that, they do not need to hide while you are present. They should feel safe. They should be able to be themselves around you. They should feel unrestricted. Your presence should give them room to float — room to be free.
And maybe if humanity wished this for all, maybe we would be better.
Yet we are diverse. Diverse in our own ways. But that shouldn’t stop us.
The goal is one person at a time. One life at a time. One smile at a time.
We can be cherries.
