Oh sweet child, so wild.

Dedicated to my brother Ivan and everybody fighting demons in their heads.

A short story for people in a hurry.

Oh sweet child, so wild.

Inside of us there is a restless child, that a long time ago was left alone to die.

True was, he was quite mean to others.

He was too selfish, too cruel, too wild.

But he meant no harm. He wasn't that bad after all.

He was our ally and he was always there.

Helping us survive in this unforgiving land.

But he was out of control, he was too young, he was just too much.

So one day the white lady mistress of our minds finally had enough.

And together we went to talk to him.

We told him that it was time to go to bed.

He refused to sleep, so we decided to ignore him.

He started to scream, so we put him in a cage.

The white lady took the cage far, far away.

Until we no longer heard the screams.

Until we thought he wasn't there anymore.

But he was there, he managed to escape.

He was pissed and he let us know the hard way.

He was looking for vengeance against the cruel mistress of reason. And those that by her will, placed him in that cage.

So bad is our memory, that we didn’t recognize him when he showed up.

And he make us remember, who was he, the hard way.

Some were confused, Others were scared.

Some looked for the help of science and its magic tricks.

Others look over for god, not knowing that he was its very own essence.

But it was too late, damage was done.

He took over and again was out of control.

"I'M NOT GOING BACK TO YOUR CAGE!"

He screamed.

I WILL BURN IT ALL!

And so he declared war.

But he was clever this time.

He hid himself very well,

and every time we weren't looking.

He would come out to play.

He made us hurt others.

He made us hurt ourselves.

And things got worse with us trying to fix something that we truly did not understood.

Oh poor, weird, and sad creatures we became.

Trying to control this invisible force of nature we almost destroyed ourselves.

And the child inside us was becoming insane.

For a long time we kept going that way.

And our imagination gave birth to horrible things.

Until one good day some clever people came.

Somehow they remembered.

Using the old knowledge from the early makers of the cage.

They started looking for the kid.

And sitting down a long, long, time, they waited and looked.

The kid that was so impatient, just couldn’t resist to not move for so long.

And when he came out they thought they got him.

But knowing where he was, wasn't enough.

And he let them know, the hard way.

He mocked their attempts to get rid of him.

He knew all their colorful tricks.

And the casualties were piling up in this war of the soul.

The clever men realized that the white lady's powers were not enough.

Since there were too dependent of conditions that were not her own.

And the child who was a force of nature, had enough power to keep going on and on.

And for a long time we kept going that way.

Wandering with a broken heart and soul.

The lucky ones were scared and ashamed,

and from time to time they would make a mess.

The not so lucky, were destroying themselves and everything else along the way.

We kept living under constant: paranoia, confusion, and dissociation.

A terrible neurosis took over the world.

And the clever people having lost so much, were jaded and tired.

Some gave up, some die.

Eventually the inevitable happened and they were all gone.

It was a dark time.

A sad time.

With the world on the brink of collapse.

Until another clever man came.

But he was different than the rest.

He didn't serve the white lady like the others.

He was more a dreamer than a thinker.

He was less man and more like a child.

He thought: "What if we try talking with the reckless kid?".

And everyone mocked him.

They said that there was no way to reason with that child.

And he said: "I think there is, and I already know how."

He wasn't sure, so he had to look.

He looked in books, art, words, songs.

In all that makes us humans and what we are.

Looking for patterns, looking for clues.

And after a lifetime he found it.

An ancient language of symbols.

Hidden patterns in the apparent chaos.

What he always knew, but couldn’t explain.

The kid was able to talk. He didn't want to destroy us.

He was just angry for being mistreated for so long.

He was also tired and sad.

He just wanted to play with us again.

But he didn't know how.

And he wanted us to know that he meant us no harm.

That he was a force of life and he wanted us to be united as one.

The white lady warn him about this union:

"He is just a brute, a selfish and careless monster!"

To what the clever man replied:

"I don't think that he is that bad, I think we pushed him to be like that. I think is time to make peace with him and give him a space in our lives. Everything else has failed and time is running out. For us this is our last chance."

So the clever man went to tell everyone what he had discovered.

Some believed him, others didn't.

Eventually with a lot of work and effort those who did, witness a miracle.

With tears running down their face, they saw the kid and the white lady playing together.

And they went on to tell to anybody who would listen.

Although there was lot to fix.

War had cost too much.

"Perhaps it's already too late."

They thought.

But still they had to try.

Because the dream was too beautiful to let it die.

A dream of a world where we coexist; and the kid is no longer a selfish, destructive force of nature, and the white lady is no longer a ruthless tyrant. A world where love is above it all and we are finally in tune with God.

Picture -Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan

Painting by Ilya Repin