The Soapbox | Where South Africans Speak Out

BY CRAIG PRINSLOO

I sit and wait, like I do most days, but today is different. Today as I sit here I feel uneasy, as though I’m wasting this very moment. My hand itches to move. Without thinking I pick up my phone and begin to type. This is what I wrote:

“Every night I look up into the heavens and gaze at the night sun. With every passing day it grows fuller and brighter, day by day and week by week. Until a climax of perfection is reached. With the dawn of such perfection brings forth animalistic tendencies, which petrifies as well as excites the beast within us all. Like a drug or a drink there’s a certain amount of freedom that can only be enjoyed when you are no longer who you were. As though humanity needs an escape goat or excuse, to bleed their talent and ability for al the world to see, but not only to see but to learn. Not only to learn but to grow.”

I snap out of my daze and realize that its time to go, time to move and time to grow.

Four days later as I stand packed and ready to embark on a journey, I once again look up at the night sky and search. A tear roles down my chin and it is this very moment that reminds me exactly why I write. My unmatched fascination with the moon combined with a simple observation has ignited my ability to dream once again. Was this the climax my unconscious warned me about? Me personally I couldn’t wait to embrace the animal within me, as I think that no matter how vicious an animal is there is always a certain amount of serenity that follows it.

My journey continued and true to that I had written I felt myself letting go. Letting go of all that has hindered me in the past. I’m convinced I felt myself grow that day. Funny as that may sound to most, but to me it was reality.

As I returned from my journey I found that I needed some time to reflect on all that has happened. All my thoughts brought me back to that initial fascination with the moon. Did the moon change me? Or did I use the moon as an excuse for a well needed change? This was a question I could not answer, so I went to the one place I knew would ether have the answer or could point me in the right direction. Soon however I realized my family didn’t have the answers I need, so I went to the next best thing and “googled” it.

I found little to no evidence of the moon changing people’s moods or out looks on life. I did however find something interesting. I comment left on a web site that might just be crazy enough to be true.

“My understanding is, that since humans are predominantly made up of water, and the moon rules the tides due to its gravitational pull. Is it fair to say that just maybe the moon rules our bodies as the moon rules the tides?”

I don’t think my question will ever be truly answered, but say what you want, my journey was without a doubt unforgettable and I will cherish those memories forever.

Friends grew closer. Long lost lovers grew even further and a new-found flicker now appears in my heart.

So much has changed but my unmatched fascination with the moon still remains.