IT WAS an evening like no other
Great minds with strongest conviction
gathered and made an allegiance of faith
so that others may see the true light

Truest strength of these few good men and women
need not seek the refuge of the number to impress
but only from the wisdom endowed no less
A gift not even a legion of fools can repress

Soon the dawn will shine brighter like never before
All because of the tenacity and audacity of the few
believing that change must come to whom it is due
and recasting the gash to make things like new

Oh, the conviction, the strength and the audacity of these few;
is all that is needed to gain the multitudes in the end
the cause to unbind us from long euphoria of false bliss
shall only come after the night of the blood moon.

LET ME tell you a short story. This story is about six young monkeys raised and caged in a back room of a pet shop. Aware that these are the smartest and most loved among all his animals in his care, the shop keeper planned to dress them up a little to put up for display in the main store room soon. These are a happy bunch of monkeys he has ever had as a shop keeper and even once intended to keep them for himself and take it at home.

Since they will be put up on display soon, his monkeys need to look attractive so one afternoon the shop keeper asked his wife to make six blue scarves for his six monkeys. The shop keeper’s wife, expectedly, was dumbfounded to hear her husband’s peculiar request. Nevertheless, being an obedient and loving wife as she always has been, made six blue scarves anyway without question. The following day, the shop keeper brought in the six blue scarves and straightaway wore it around the necks of his six playful monkeys. Almost immediately all six monkeys shot up excitedly, danced around and shrieking with joy as if to proudly announce to every animal in the shop keeper’s store “we have a new toy to play on!”. Oh it was a sight to see, the shop keeper thought, and he has never seen his monkeys so happy and invigorated like ever before. He was so proud of what he has done that he even invited some of his friends to see his happy dancing monkeys. It was one of the happiest days he has had as a pet shop keeper while at the same time the owner commended him with full confidence on his wonderful upkeep.

A day before all his monkeys will be moved to the main display room, the shop keeper decidedly wanted to add more color and vibrancy. He got home that evening and asked his wife one more time to make another set of scarves only this time just three yellow scarves. His wife, unusually reposed from a baffling request, made the three yellow scarves and was quite anxious what his husband will do with just only three scarves. The next day, the shop keeper hurriedly ran to the pet shop, got to the monkeys cage, took the scarves of the three monkeys and replaced with the new yellow scarves his wife has made.

The monkeys were again were jumping, dancing and screaming with joy except only this time those that still wore the old blue scarves remain unusually silent and unmoved. The monkeys that wore the old blue scarves remained quiet and slowly, yet progressively, distanced themselves from those other three with the new yellow scarves. The monkeys also began to group themselves according to the color of the scarves they wore and only played among themselves. The store keeper observed that it was like there was another wall separating the groups (blue and yellow) inside the cage though he was tempted to take them all off but held it back for very good reasons. It was a highly unusual sight to see that all six monkeys he raised together and equally loved discriminated one another just because of the color of the scarves they wore for a very short time.

On that day, the shop keeper moved the first two monkeys with yellow scarves to another bigger cage near the display window in the main room; a place where the owner can see them in full loving view. So, there remain only four in the back room; three monkeys with old blue scarves and one with new yellow scarf. However, the shop keeper took a little more time to get back as he moved his first two monkeys to its new place which he had prepared days before for all his six monkeys he dearly loved. As he got back, seeing the cage in the back room from a distant corner in his shop, he only saw three monkeys standing tensed and huddled snuggly in one corner, all three except one.

As he got closer, one monkey was laying flat on the cage floor, not moving, bloodied and lifeless. The once youthful, jolly, playful and trusting monkey has languished in fear and extreme pain before his soul departed his now lifeless body. He was bitten, smitten, pulled and broken by the other three monkeys all because he was different as was expected of him to be by the keeper. The difference that could have brought fresh vibrance in his shop has instead caused his monkey’s very dear life in the end. Wrapped tightly on the neck of that lifeless body is a worn-out and bloodied scarf that used to be the color of the lustrous sun – yellow.

The Author’s Message:
All of us are made equally the same. Neither anyone can say that the other is far better or far worse, right or wrong, saved or expelled. However, we are discriminatingly made diverse according to His grand plans that our crude brains can’t fathom. What made us different from each other is our very own unique set of personal philosophies, principles and morals standards – our colored scarves of our choosing. Although, unlike the monkeys in the story, we all chose to be different as formed by our environment and experiences. In our case, we chose to be yellow.

If you are with me and willing to see beyond what we all both feel, let us join together, take away all that may distract our view, work together, know together and discover how we can uncover the truth. Just take that chance and wear our yellow scarves just for once and we’ll show you what we see from this end unencumbered.