A long time ago, a young boy had a dream. He woke up from his slumber to find himself near the ocean. At first, he tried to remember if he had seen such a place before but as he wondered he noticed that it was something less ordinary. He saw that the sky was filled with stars and endless arrays of constellations. He took some sand beneath his feet and he noticed that it was filled with small and shiny crystals. As he was looking at the sand at the moonless sky, he noticed a small hut made from leaves and wood just near the beach. He entered the hut and was awed by the things he saw.
    Placed in various shelves were timepieces, hourglasses which were made from wood and glass. The shelves were in a circular formation and in the center of all the shelves was a large hourglass. The hourglass was not like any other timepieces because it was enormous and it had two glasses which connects to a larger glass. As he was examining the glass, he noticed a shadow creeping behind him. He turned and noticed an old man with long flowing beard and a wooden cane. He apologized for entering the old man’s hut without asking permission and the old man pardoned him.   
    He asked the man about the hourglasses and the old man smiled and answered. “Did you notice that all of the hourglasses have names below them?” said the old man. “These hourglasses are the lives of people, men, women, the old and the children.” The young boy became curious and he asked why some of the hourglasses have lesser sand than others. The old man answered, “Some of the hourglasses were lesser than others because most of the sands are transferred to other timepieces.” “When people want to spend their lives together, they would sacrifice some of their sand to other hourglasses. Through moving the sand, people would loose most of their lives but would fill the glass of others.” The old man looked at the large hourglass at the middle of the shelves and then he asked the boy. “Did you notice the large hourglass that has two glasses at the top?This is the hourglass of time itself. The glass on the right is named light and the other one is the evil of the world.”
    The old man looked at the young boy for a minute and then he continued to speak. “Man’s actions fill both of the glasses. Some men would loose their sand in order to fill the glass of good while others would spend their sand on the glass of evil. Regardless of their actions, all their sands would eventually be lost.”
As the old man was talking, the young boy noticed that the hourglass with his father’s name suddenly lost all of its sand and before he realized it tears started to fall from the boy’s eyes. The old man fell into his knees and asked the boy. “Do not cry, little one, did you know why your father’s glass is empty?” The young boy said no and he asked the old man why. The old man answered, “Your father spent all his sand in order to fill your hourglass.”    
     The young boy wiped the tears from his eyes and cheeks and then he looked at the other hourglasses. He noticed that all the hourglasses looked the same and he asked the old man why. Again, the old man smiled and he held the boy’s hand. “You are special, my son, you have noticed that all of the hourglasses are the same. This is because all people are the same. Some are smart while others are dull yet all hourglasses are still the same.”   
    The boy was still curious and he asked a lot more questions from the old man. The old man hushed the child and then he started to speak. “The winds of destiny have nothing to do with the hourglasses. War, famine, love, hate and peace are creations of man. Destiny has paved the way yet man still chooses his own path.You, young one, would eventually find the glass that you would be filling but as long as you have yet to find it, live your life and live it free.”
    “It is time for you to go, time to go back to the world that you have left.” the old man said. The young boy hugged the old man and he headed for the door.

The young boy turned back and asked the name of the old man. The old man answered:

“My name is Fate.”

-    Through writing there is freedom of the mind and the heart. I dedicate this story to my father who has left us last June 11, 2010. Have a safe journey, dad.