ONE STEP CLOSER TO KNOWING

That is all it takes - one step - to cross the line separating truth from mystery. Bono may have expounded on it differently, through song with lyrics that speak volumes, but I will take it with no hint of arrogance his one step shares the same footing as mine. Follow the lead.

Find the exit point in your workplace and stand by the door that opens up to the outside world. Focus, stop brooding over sentiments. Is there a glimmering sign hanging by the egress that says, ah, Life Starts Here?

All it takes is one fruitful step.

You stand with your honey bunny by the edge of the hotel bed, hands in sacred clasp while breathing the same air. There is more to sweet nothings in this ritual of lovers, a vow, a pact, a testament in the wind; the innocence of relationship now comes to this. In complete darkness will be the fulfillment of a final step towards knowledge, carnal knowledge, the awareness of the other's fullness of being, fluid to fluid, soul to soul, and you need to find the best route for the journey towards yourself, if it is through your lover's, in darkness, in bed.

All it takes is one fruitful step.

You feel weak and you faint, the kitchen floor improvising itself as your napping floor in the regretful state of your health. You keep your banged head up and you see the upturned trashcan (which you dragged as you were falling down), and you ask yourself, How long had I been in such unconsciousness down there, in the sweet company of trash? You call your doctor for an appointment and some tests, at the same time remembering the story of the newscaster who went to the doctor for chestpains and fainting spells and was, surprise!, told of the malignant tumor in his brain.

That phonecall is one fruitful step.

You cry a torrent of tears for your beloved pilot-husband whose flight whereabouts remain unknown. You scamper for news, for broadcasts, for satellite feeds, hoping that the jungle search undergoes with positive progress; you pray for help, they scream for rewards. In this country, you remind yourself, a man will sell his brother for a few bucks. Will you go or will you not? The forest is an infinite expanse and the enemies there are not just of the human kind. You will go and will take the bold step.

That could be a fruitful, fruitless, or even a fatal step.

Knowledge is power. All information gathered, all things learned, make you bigger in size – and it lives in this caveat, The more you gain in size, the more you grow in strength. But how far are you willing to know, and how big is that step you are willing to take? In courage, you are in full armor against what Willa Cather describes as disconcerting beginnings of a future yet unforeseen, and so in my solemn undertaking, all I can say is in life as in death, in sorrows and eros, all it takes is knowing, so good luck and Godbless.