:: Moon's Magic ::

Salman Shah

Ali was very sad. He ate little and did not even do his homework. He was sad because he had one ardent wish in life. He wanted to talk to the stars that he saw at night. So strong was his wish that his whole life had gotten disturbed. His parents failed to make him happy.

One night when he was looking at the stars, he heard a voice.

“Is it a star talking to me?” he asked excited.

But it was not a star, it was the moon.

“Ali, why are you so sad?” asked the moon.

“I want to talk to the stars.”

“Why only stars, you can talk to me,” said the moon.

“No, no I want to talk only to the stars,” said Ali and started crying.

“Okay! Okay!” said the moon, “Let me tell you the reality.”

“What reality?” he stopped crying.

“The reality is that some of the stars that you see in the sky, might not be there.”

“What do you mean?” He was surprised.

“Ali you know we are able to see only when light from an object enters our eyes.”

“Yes.”

“Similarly, when the light from the stars reaches your eyes, you see them.” The moon paused for a moment to let the idea sink in.

“What do want to say?” Ali asked puzzled.

“Let me explain it to you with a supposition. Suppose an explosion takes place on a star at this moment and it stops shining. Would you able to see that explosion?”

“Yes, why not?” he said his interest increasing.

“No, my dear. The light of that explosion will reach you after thousands of years because the star is very, very far away.”

Ali listened to this strange notion with rapt attention.

“So, what you are actually seeing might not be there any longer. The star might have stopped shining thousands of years ago and its light has taken this long to reach you,” the moon took a deep breath.

“Does it mean that there might not be a single star up there and I will never come to know about it?” Ali’s sharpened interest gave way to despair.

“No, no my dear, don’t feel disheartened,” moon said compassionately. “Of course, the vast majority of the millions of stars you see are still there. But maybe a few have finished in the thousands of years their light has taken to reach you. My idea in telling you this was that I wanted to make you understand that you should have dreams but shouldn’t let dreams spoil our present life. Now get up and eat your dinner.”

Ali got the point, smiled, bid goodbye to moon, and went to the dining room for his dinner. Now he was no longer sad.