Theme: Self-esteem, comparison

The friendly Breeze

In the sky, over a small town in the interior, there lived a Breeze, but a very gentle one. He loved to make his journey every day and, wherever he went, he left his collaboration, which was appreciated by all.

Early in the morning, he visited the plants in the field and took some dry leaves from them. He would shake the flowers, take their scent, and carry the seeds, so they would spread and have a better chance of sprouting. He loved doing this and could see that the plants liked him.

In the middle of the day, the Breeze was already going to the backyard of the washerwomen. They also liked him a lot. When they saw the clothes on the clothesline swinging, they thought it was great!

- Ah, that's good! Today my clothes will dry quickly. It will accelerate my service a lot! - they said.

In the afternoon, he would often go to the soccer field and there he would find the boys hot, sweaty, chasing the ball. Then he would blow on their faces and the boys would cool off a bit. They even managed to play longer when the wind appeared.

The Breeze was like that, soft, but everyone's friend. He was happy too, doing what he could do.

But, over time, the Breeze met other winds and began to compare himself with them. As Breeze was small, he was amazed at the size and strength that others had.

Breeze started to think that he wasn't so good. He felt that any other wind could do what he did more efficiently, and that people and plants would be happier with another wind.

- Imagine how that wind would blow the seeds away! And it would dry clothes off the line twice as fast! He would cool the boys down like a fan! - he said sadly.

The winds met in the sky from time to time and talked. In one of these conversations, Breeze heard that a very strong wind was approaching, stronger than anyone they knew. It was a wind that blew in other regions, used to pushing sailboats and raising huge waves in the sea.

On the day the strong wind came, it was the biggest upheaval in the sky. Everything went dark as his strength pushed back many clouds. They accumulated so much that they caused tremendous rain.

The strong wind didn't take long blowing through there, but everyone noticed its passage. After he was gone, the winds still spoke about him.

- What strength! What ability he has! He's amazing, I've never seen anything like it - they commented.

Breeze had also been impressed.

- I don't think he even noticed me, but I'm sure I'll never forget him. He is awesome! - said the wind.

The next day, Breeze left for his usual activities. He was curious to hear the comments about the passing strong wind. Surely everyone would be impressed too. But, to Breeze's surprise, what he found was not quite what he expected.

The plants were devastated, the flowers, hideous and torn apart. There was no perfume to be taken away. The plants were trying to recover from the violent shocks they had suffered.

The strong wind had not dried the washerwomen's clothes. They had collected them all because of the rain, and the clothes that were on the clothesline were thrown to the ground.

The boys couldn't play ball. The dirt field, where they played, was still soggy and full of mud.

Breeze felt disappointed. He had so admired the strength of that visiting wind. But now he realized that he had left a lot of things dirty or destroyed.

He had wanted so much to be stronger, but now he wasn't sure which was better.

It was like this, confusing, that the wind went looking for a friend wind that moved windmills and weathervanes. He was more experienced, and he explained him:

- Breeze, each one of us has a role to play. Strong wind is important. It causes heavy rains that soak the soil. He manages to uproot dry branches and condemned trees, renewing nature. We couldn't do that. But your softness accomplishes things he can´t do.

After the conversation, Breeze thanked his friend and went back doing his tasks. But he came back much lighter, with joy.

He realized that he could be useful exactly as he was and that his activities, even being simple, had a lot of value.

Translation:
Larissa Martine - larissa_am@hotmail.com

marcelapradacontato@gmail.com