I recently discovered an old blog-style piece I had written before this website even existed. It’s a welcome remnant of the past. Particularly one that was thought lost to previous computer crashes.
Needless to say, I now back everything up with redundancies.
Without further ado, the piece that survived the calamity:
—At least a year before writing this, I had written down a vague story idea in one of my notebooks:
“Something that used to be great, but fell apart because of indifference/negligence. The saddest thing is indifference.”
At the time, it was just a reflective thought. I had no idea how to turn it into a story. Now, I’ve realized what those words mean.
I decided to put it in terms of a fairy tale.
This is the story of the castle that fell apart:
Once upon a time, there was a grand castle. In this castle lived the fairest king and queen, the most beautiful princesses, the most handsome princes, and the most noble and chivalrous knights the land had ever known. The people adored them. They were gentle and attentive.
No, this castle won’t be taken down by an enemy army, or a natural disaster. This castle will be destroyed by indifference.
Over time, the king got complacent. He was comfortable where he was and eventually he forgot what it took to build up his kingdom; or where it could go in the future. The queen got bored. She tired of the work involved in maintaining the kingdom. To her, there was no point.
The princesses and princes stopped caring for themselves. They ate and drank more at feasts. They didn’t bother to improve their skills or knowledge.
The knights got lazy at their posts. They let their weapons and armor rust.
The people lost respect for those in the castle. They were not the paragons of royalty that the people once knew.
The walls started to crumble. Feasts became an obligation instead of a celebration. The residents started to leave. Eventually, everyone had left in their own separate, defeated directions.
The all too unfortunate, end.—
Why do I think this kind of ending is worse than one where they die in some blaze of glory or at least a tragic accident?
Because it’s their fault. Instead of being remembered for when the kingdom was great, they’ll be remembered for their failures; how they were at the end.
All those involved will be left wondering what went wrong. It might be hard for them to identify those things and they’ll be stuck in an endless cycle of “what-ifs?” What if I had done this differently? What if I hadn’t done that? What if I said this? What if I didn’t say that?
Posing this idea as a fairy tale helped me to understand what I meant by, “Indifference is the saddest thing.”
Is your castle suffering from indifference or apathy? Your familial relationships? Your professional life? Your health goals? Your romantic relationships?
Can your castle be restored to it’s former glory? If it can, do it with all your heart and your sincerity.
Maybe you already walked away from the castle because you thought it was done for. Thinking back, was it? Can you return and restore the castle? There are plenty of real life examples of castles being rebuilt after being brought to ruin. Although I admit rebuilding a physical castle is much simpler than rebuilding a relationship or a life.
When you have rebuilt the castle, don’t forget what it took this time.
Finally, if it is well and truly ruined, maybe you can build a new one. Just remember the first castle and the lessons you learned from it.
Thank you for reading.