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Golden Footprints
by Carol Troestler
Used with permission
Copyright 2005
[short story]
Once upon a time, there was a young woman named Sarah
who lived in the village below the Mountain of the Golden Footprints.
She was feeling very sad and depressed. Nothing or no one could make
her happy. She had been very unhappy and depressed for a long time.
What is the use of going on she thought. Nothing anyone said seemed
to make a difference on others.
Her best friend went to visit Sarah and told her the story of the Mountain
of the Golden Footprints. It is a special place where as the sun sets
you can look out over the city and see sparkling golden footprints of
people who had made a difference on others.
“But I haven’t made any difference in anyone’s life,”
she said. “There won’t be any golden footprints for me to
see. So why should I bother to go there?”
“But,” said her friend, “If you don’t see any
golden footprints, there is a special village on the other side of the
mountain. That is a place for all those people who haven’t made
a difference. It is comfortable and very pretty and there you can be
happy. So you see, you have other options besides not going on with
your life. If you went to the village on the other side of the mountain,
I would miss you, but it would be better than the way you feel right
now. You have nothing to lose.”
So Sarah decided to give it a try. After all, she had to do something.
She could not go on the way she was. Besides, although she was sure
she would not see any golden footprints, she had a little glimmer of
hope that going there would make a difference in her life. The village
on the other side of the mountain also sounded like it could be a place
where she could be happy.
She walked up the path to the top of the Mountain of the Golden Footprints.
It was a long walk and sometimes very difficult. But she had made the
decision to go to the top and continued on, although sometimes she just
wanted to stop climbing and curl up and cease to exist.
She reached the top and came to the lookout point. She was greeted
by a woman called ‘Faith’ who watched over the Mountain
of the Golden Footprints. Sarah sat on a rock at the top of the mountain
and looked out over her village far below. Although the sun was not
setting yet, she felt inside as though she were looking out over her
life. She could see her house and the house of her friends, the house
of her parents, her school, and many places from her childhood. She
remembered many things as she looked out over these places, some sad
and some happy.
And as she was thinking about her life, the sun began to set. She saw
a golden twinkling light began to appear in the park in the middle of
the village. She could not believe it could possible be a Golden Footprint.
“Look,” Faith said excitedly, “There is your first
Golden Footprint!”
“But how could that be?” asked Sarah. “I don’t
ever remember anything I did in the park that could have possibly made
a difference.”
“That is my department,” answered Faith. “I have
watched many years. I remember all the Golden Footprints. One day a
long time ago, when you were a little child, you went laughing through
the park. There was a man sitting there who had just left his wife and
child over a silly argument. He heard your laughter and missed his
child so much that he returned to his family and lived with them happily
ever after.”
“Well, that was kind of accidental. I certainly didn’t
know I had done that.” Said Sarah. As she finished speaking, another
golden sparkling footprint appeared on the house of a friend.
“Remember when she was very sick? You went to see her and brought
her flowers and stayed with her and talked many hours and you held her
hand. If you had not done that, she would not have survived,”
replied Faith.
“But how could that be?” asked Sarah. “I’m
not a doctor. I did not giver her medicine. How could I have saved her
life?”
“The doctor gave her the medicine, but you gave her hope. You
gave her strength and courage.”
And as she finished speaking, the valley below was a glow with Golden
Footprints. There was one on the school where her smile and love for
learning had inspired a fellow student to stay in school and become
a great philosopher. There was one over a tree that she had planted
in the yard of her house. There was one over the place where her stubbornness
had convinced the King that the village needed a smoother road for travelers,
and he had smiled at her outspokenness and feisty nature. There was
a footprint right in the backyard of her house. That was where she had
taken her children one night to watch the stars. There was one over
the pub in the village. That was where she had met her husband and they
had fallen in love.
“I had forgotten all those things,” said Sarah. “I
was so depressed that I only remembered the sad things and not the good
things. I guess I have made a difference.”
“And you will in the future,” said Faith. “There
are stars to show your grandchildren and a birthday to share with your
friend. And your husband needs a romantic evening at the pub.”
Sarah sat for a long time until the sun had set and the Golden Footprints
disappeared and the lights of the village were lit in the streets and
homes below and flickered, not as Golden Footprints, but as tiny footprints
of fireflies. Soon Sarah would start the climb down the mountain, guided
by the tiny lights below.
Sarah smiled and thanked Faith. She started on her way down the mountain
and knew that someday she would tell others about the Mountain of the
Golden Footprints and make a difference in their lives too.