The machinery was a success, the land, now floating in the sky as little islands, proved the greatness of people, crushed boundaries in minds of those who disbelieved. But the world was dark. It’s said that black clouds had yet to clear, and the day was as dark as the night, making not a single star visible.
Not everyone could afford light. Trees were too precious, oil limited. Not even candles were there to help, and even if they were, their light was dim.
Adults and elders dreamed of old days, of devices that illuminated everything with a single command. Children on the other hand, never having a chance to glimpse dying technology, looked for ways to solve the problem, as children usually do.
In search of tiniest bright items, one night, or it could be a day, since it was hard to tell, a group found a pack of shining, little dots. There were flying there, in the air, in pretty yet chaotic dance. They seemed to shine inside out, something that was rarely ever seen.
Needles to say children were astonished. Next time they tried to catch the dots in a jar. But they were too fast and all escaped. After a few tries the group sat to discuss what they might actually be. Too tiny for bird or too much in the air to be a lizard, they became bugs.
Why were they flying though? Oh, that’s easy. It’s because of tiny lanterns they carried. So the children decided to catch the slowest one with the heaviest lantern of them all. And so they proceeded.
Soon the first bug was sitting in the jar, looking strangely offended. And so the jar was proudly presented to the helpless adults. Their eyes went wide and for the first time in a while they smiled brightly.
Children’s stubbornness and hope was shining as brightly as a tiny lantern in creatures hands.
Nobody knows to this day, where the bugs acquired those lights, or if there were any lanterns to begin with. Nevertheless, to this day an innocent firefly stands as a symbol of children and hope. And let’s make it stay as long as possible.
"Not all those who wander are lost" 