@optimist 21 April 2022

There is a story about a man who, as a child, was walking down the street and suddenly saw a wall with a green door in it ("The Door in the Wall" is a story by H.G. Wells). He opened it, it gave way easily, and he entered and saw a garden, a beautiful garden as he had never seen in his younger years; marvelous flowers grew there, wonderful animals played, extraordinary birds sang, and women of extraordinary kindness greeted him. And, as if in a dream, he left there - he so did not want to leave that wonderful garden, and the women guardians of the garden told him, "Someday you will come back to us - but only if you want to." And so many, many years later, when he was already a student and was driving down this street, suddenly he saw this wall, long forgotten, and this green wicket. He wanted to shout to the chauffeur: "Stop!" - And then he thought, "I'll be late for my exam, I'll be late for the institute," and he drove on, thinking, "I'll be back, and then I'll knock on this gate." But when he went back, he did not see that door: there were houses, a wall, and no gate. And so it happened several times in his life: when he was hurrying somewhere on his business, suddenly before his eyes there was a wall and a mysterious green wicket to a wonderful garden. And he would say to himself, "This is it! But now I have no time, now I must hurry, on my way back," but there was no way back. And when he was old, he suddenly realized that it was all in vain, that it was all for nothing, that he was chasing a ghost, and that he had missed the main happiness in life. This is a parable about our lives.