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Dancing with the white and pink

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Contributed by: David Grigorian on 4/1/2007

On a sunny warm April day in Japan, an eleven-year-old boy, Zack, strolled to the park wearing a snow-white T-shirt and shorts. The warm wind blew into Zack's face, and played with his light-brown wavy hair as he found himself surrounded by Japanese Sakura cherry trees that stood around the small pond. They were about three floors high and as thick as an elephant's leg. The branches were spread in all directions. The large Sakura cherry trees had no leaves, but some of the trees had pink flowers and others were white.

The falling white Sakura flowers reminded a little boy of a light snowfall in the spring. Zack twirled and twirled under the circling sparkling petals, his T-shirt flapping loosely. The snowy flowers were entangled in Zack's long, wavy hair, as the boy danced, giggling and humming with his arms outstretched sideways. Upon landing on the ground, the ivory petals spread themselves on the green, moist grass making a white carpet.

Unlike the white Sakura cherry trees, pink Sakura flowers weren't ready to fall. The branches of the pink Sakura cherry trees were covered in the light pink flower, and looked like pink clouds to the little boy. The boy imagined that they were crimson clouds with white snow falling from them. The boy twirled farther to the park under the Sakura cherry trees with such enthusiasm, that he caught attention of the families who were having picnics in the park under and around the trees. Some of the Japanese girls and boys in kimonos began to dance with Zack. However, Zack was completely oblivious to the children who danced around him. The boy was in his own world.

The boy remembered that today was a celebration of Japan's national Sakura flower that has been admired for centuries. In ancient Japan, poets wrote of cherry blossoms, and artists made artwork trying to capture Sakura's flowering period. Japanese people celebrate Sakura cherry trees blossoms to this day by organizing picnics under the trees. The picnics usually include family members, friends, and co-workers. Zack's appetite kicked in when he saw the foods that the families brought to the picnics ranging from juicy sushi, spicy raw fish, slightly bitter green tea, to modern-day potato chips.

A little farther from the boy in the opening was a stage decorated in colorful flags and paper lamps. Men, women, and children in kimonos danced and sang on the stage. The boy looked forward to watch a parade where people dress in samurai armors just in few hours away.

Zack suddenly slipped away from the sight of his audience and other children into the depth of the trees closer to the pond. There, pinkish clouds hovered over his head and the white snow fell from the above, as Zack twirled waving his arms like swan's wings. His brown eyes couldn't get enough of the scenery, as he tried to observe the dance of every single petal, or watching petals float on the pond. Suddenly, all the stress, all the cruelty in the world, and all the anxiety of being alive was wiped out by the sweet, gentle breeze. It didn't matter to the Zack that he was hearing impaired, that he couldn't talk to other children because of language barrier, or that he was miles away from his homeland.

Zack was an angel floating in a paradise, his childhood at its full blossom just like the flowers.The boy recalled reading that Sakura cherry trees also symbolize the new hope, new life, and a second chance. Every year after winter, the trees wake up to bloom under the blue sky, despite how harsh the winter might have been. The Sakura trees continue to blossom and inspire people across the world that humans can also struggle for a new hope, for a rebirth, and for better life.

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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

David Grigorian

Arvada , CO

David Grigorian has posted 7 stories and 9 comments since joining on 1/30/2006. David Grigorian 's average story rating is 5.

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