New Eyes

This story includes descriptions of war war.

New Eyes

Kando woke up shaking and crying. Julie, her mother, came running. Kando tried to curl up in her mother’s lap, wishing she could fit like she used to, back when she believed her mother could make everything ok. Julie wrapped her arms around her as she wept.  

When she was finally able to speak, Kando told her mother the dream that had awakened her. “I was playing in the forest with a few squirrels. It was so beautiful. I could even see this lovely shinny light moving in and out and around weaving everything together in harmony. Suddenly, the rhythm changed, it got all discombobulated ( a big word that Kando had recently learned, it meant just what it sounded like; all jumbled and out of whack).  The squirrels fell off the tree, the birds all flew up startled and bumping into each other and there was panic in the eyes of the deer who were too afraid to move. That’s when I woke up. Oh Mom, what does it mean? Is the Earth getting discombobulated? Oh Mom, I am so scared.”  

Julie stroked her daughters hair and began to hum softly. She did not try to reassure her that everything was ok. Julie knew it wasn’t and so did Kando. It was almost time to get ready for school, but Julie realized she could not send Kando off to school after an experience like that.  

Kando looked at the clock, groaned and buried her head in her mother’s breast. Julie said, “Does Gran have plans for you today?” Kando looked up with a speck of hope in her eyes. “I think so,” said Kando, “Can I go?”  

When Kando’s grandmother died Julie had feared how hard it would be on her. But after two days of crying Kando rushed into her mother’s bedroom in the middle of the night. “Mom, you told me I would never see Gran again. She isn’t gone. I saw her. She told me she would always be there when I needed her. I think I am gonna need her a lot.”

After that, Julie occasionally observed Kando walking alone engaged in earnest conversation. Often, Kando said Gran would come up with what she called her marching orders and off she would go on one adventure after another. 

At first, Julie thought it was probably just the girl’s imagination to help her ease into a life without her grandmother and that it would fade after a few weeks. But the relationship with Gran nourished Kando month after month, even past her recent 11th birthday.

One day Kando came home talking about having learned about moving in harmony with the rhythm of the Earth. With tears in her eyes Julie was thrown back to her own days as a child. She too had received the same lesson from her mother. That is when Julie realized she could trust Kando’s mysterious relationship with Gran, including the adventures on which Gran sent Kando. Now, as Kando lay in her mother’s arms, still quite shaky, Julie suspected it was only Gran that could help her today.

“I think you need to.” her mother cooed in a soothing voice. Kando dressed slowly. She didn’t feel the excitement of a new adventure. Instead, she felt the foreboding resolve of one who is about to do something hard but important.

Kando flashed again on the moment in the dream when the Rhythm changed and her whole body shook. Her mother held her close till she calmed down, kissed her, and watched as Kando put her hand into her invisible grandmother’s hand and walked out the door.  

“Where are we going? What’s going to happen? I’m scared, Gran.” Kando rambled on in her anxious wondering as Gran listened in silence. Finally, Gran pointed ahead of them at a huge gorgeous golden eagle in the middle of the meadow. Kando rushed ahead, longing to wrap her arms around the most beautiful bird she had ever seen but caught herself realizing she might scare it away.  

Instead of fleeing, Eagle reached into her mind and invited her onto its back. Before she could hesitate, she had climbed on the back and was taking off. She turned to see with some trepidation that Gran was still there in the meadow waving. The thrill of flying soon grabbed all her attention. The strength of the feathers she was holding onto for dear life, the soft fluttering of the feathers on her legs, the wind in her face, the amazing view of the land below.  Kando was surprised she didn’t feel scared, or cold for that matter. In fact, she was beginning to feel the excitement of a grand adventure after all.

Eagle sped on towards the far away horizon. Kando got so relaxed, and the ride was so long, she even dozed a little. Again, she woke with a cry. A quick glance told her the land was completely unfamiliar. Everything looked and felt different. Before she could even think about why it felt so different, there it was again: what had woken her from her dream. A loud boom, a flash of eerie light and they were heading right towards it.  

Kando was beginning to understand what was discombobulating the harmony of the Earth. War. 

Eagle began to think to her. “Yes, Little One, this is war. I hate to bring you here to see what horrible things humans do to each other. But you can bring your new understanding of Harmony with The Mother of Us All. And You said you were willing.”  

“If I can help, I am willing!” Kando said with conviction. “But I don’t know how I can help.” 

“We will do this together,” Eagle reassured her. 

They flew across a winding river. Next to the river were many people all dressed in green. They all had guns and were pointing and shooting at another large group of people who were in grey uniforms. And those in grey were shooting right back at those in green. Every now and then someone on one side or the other would throw something at the other side and that same discombobulating boom would happen. This time instead of squirrels falling out of trees, it was people falling on the ground. And blood. Lots of blood. Tears were pouring out of Kando’s eyes, getting Eagles feathers wet. She had never seen anything so horrible. “Oh Eagle”, she thought, “why are they doing this?”  

“Very good question, Little One.” Eagle flew in a little closer though careful to stay above the bullets. “Look into the heart of that one over there, beside the tree; the one wearing the green uniform and shooting many people on the other side?  

Kando opened her heart and eyes to understand why he was doing what he was doing? “Ohhhh. He is so scared and being so brave. He is protecting his people, his family, his country from those terrible evil people on the other side. He is so brave and oh so scared.”  

“Yes, Little One, you see quite clearly.”  

Eagle then flew high up and then down again only this time it was above the other side of the battle. “Now look into the heart of that one standing on a little hill in the grey uniform.”

Kando was hesitant. “But that soldier thinks those people are evil.” 

Eagle encouraged her so again she opened her eyes and heart. “Ohhhh NOOOOO. He is so scared. And he too is so very brave to still be there to protect his family and his country! He thinks he is protecting his people from those terrible evil people on the other side. Oh Eagle, this is soooo sad! They are just the same. Good brave people who love their families and want to help. And oh, they are both so scared.” Kando wailed. “How can I show them what I have seen? If only they had your eyes Eagle, or even mine.” As soon as she thought that thought, she realized she was seeing out of the green soldiers eyes. She almost collapsed into the fear he was feeling. But she couldn’t forget what she saw in the heart of the grey soldier. So, she looked straight at the grey soldier holding that clear feeling she had had of his heart. The green soldier lowered his gun. Kando prayed to Mother Earth to protect him and felt a shiny light flow all around him. In fact, Kando watched it weave around him and then ripple out from there, weaving in and out around other soldiers. Some even began to lower their guns, too, though they had no idea why.  

Eagle quickly flew to the other side and Kando felt herself drop in to look through the eyes of the soldier in grey. He now saw the fear and the bravery and the kindness in the green soldiers heart. Tears began to flow from his eyes. He too lowered his gun. The same lovely shiny light flowed around him and began to move out from there. 

Kando and Eagle flew high and watched the battlefield as the shiny, swirling air around those two soldiers expanded like ripples in a pond. The lovely shiny light began to weave in and out and around the whole field. Not all the fighting stopped. But many of the soldiers clearly felt this strange warmth in their hearts and just couldn’t make themselves pull the trigger. Eagle flew higher and higher. Together they watched as the shinny light rippled farther and farther and farther. Kando hoped it would go all the way around the world. Maybe it will she thought, the discombobulation went all the way around the world to my dream, maybe the harmony can too. 

Now Kando was crying again. Only this time it was with that special happy sad feeling that happens when your heart is touched way deep inside.

“I wish war would never ever happen again,” thought Kando. 

“So do I” thought Eagle, “but you have made a pretty good start here. None of those soldiers will ever be the same after what happened here today. ” 

Some of the soldiers, though a bit dazed, started walking off the field. Eagle circled down closer. There was a man in a grey uniform lying on the ground all alone. A soldier in green, who had turned to walk off the field noticed him lying there and knelt beside him. It was clear the man was dying and nothing could be done. The man in green stayed beside him, holding his hand, and praying for him until he died. The air around those two men began to shine and pulse and spread out in rhythmic ripples. The pulse struck a chord inside Kando, and she put her hands to her heart thinking, “So this is living in harmony with the rhythm of the Earth.”