One. How much difference does one of anything make? For the longest time, I was the only one at home when I was younger. Being alone in the house was a bore, and the house help was incomprehensible and really did not get me. I began to wonder what if someone else was in the house? Would that one have any impact to my boredom? Sure enough, when one came along the house was no longer gloomy. It became crowded and messy and I loathed the whole concept of the addition of one to a family. That was my introduction to the number one, it seemed to be too much of an addition.
In kindergarten, I knew that one was the lesser number. The lowest value next to zero, which meant it was next to nothing. I did not picture ever getting a one in anything, that was not for me. I was meant to get more, because more is good. Because more was way more many ones that anyone with a one would have in an exam. In retrospect, therein lay the irony: with enough combinations of one I could emerge the best in class, Number one! As I progressed in the 8-4-4 ladder, I realized that people could do anything to get to number one like I did. So I had to read for more combinations of one minute to bring it to one hour to one day … and one day it became tiresome. I thought one was too far beyond my reach, I thought it was time to share with everyone the spotlight. That one spotlight that I had been used to hogging, alone.
As my head and body grew, so did my appreciation of all things symmetrical. I had two of most things; one on each side. One eye on the left and right, one arm on the left and right, one ear on the left and right… you get the drift.
I realized that was not one could be made one by splitting twice; hence one half. With one limb on each side, I experience the world in more than one dimension. I realized that one friend was not enough, but that at least one best friend was essential to survive the social cannibalism. Then I realized that one just wasn’t enough you needed to have several to maintain different angles of your life. Then one day I realized that the laws of nature dictate I find the “one”. Ironically, I had to sift through one too many “ones” and they broke my heart into one too many pieces. There is a good ending to the story though, I eventually found the right “one”, luckily the one remaining shard of my broken heart she found on arrival was big enough for her to keep and place it inside her golden locket right beside her remaining shard. Then, the two shards became one, and I felt whole again … like we were one and the same. I still wonder when I will get my one rib back …
The world is one large classroom, and I have learnt a lot from it. I learnt that one person can influence your life greatly. One person, the same or another, will bring you down with the ease of gravity. I learnt one battle can end a war, just as easily as one battle can begin a war. it all depends on the one who wins and most importantly, the one who loses. I learnt that to be one among many is not the same as being one in many. I learnt there is always one grey haired man (one at a time) who said something profound he left the rest scratching their heads. Little wonder baldness is eternal! I wonder if I will be a baldness-inducing sage with time, but perhaps this is one of those. On the flip side, that is one coin that can land on heads or tails.
In all this banter, I hope my rocking chair will be for one when my life is almost done. I pray to look across whichever shack I will be in to my “the one” and see one sunset everyday and look back at my life. At a life I lived since I was one day old. At a life that promised that one day I will grow. At a life that left me with one tooth to console my gums. At a life that taught me one too many lessons. At a life that I will not have even one regret. Because regardless how I look at it, we are only one, and because we are one we are every one, but entitled to no one. I will look back and think “that was a gudu one!” And I will be happy that I made the world a better place, after all even an ocean is not if it has a drop less.
Sadly until then, I will just have to be content that I made you read a story about too many “ones”, but there can never be one too many in any story now, can there?
donmu2ua 