geo geller

* My great grandfather once told me a story that his great grandfather had told him. It began like this. “Since the beginning of the beginning the first person on earth was and still is the father of us all. He was the father of our forefathers and the father of all my people.” He was known as the Father of Father’s.

* My great grandfather said, there once was a time long ago when the Father of Father’s was not very happy about his children. He said to his trusted friend, the Owl, “I am sad, I don’t know what is wrong with my children and my children’s children… they are not happy, they fight amongst themselves. “They have everything, the gift of life and look at them they are destroying not only themselves but the beautiful things around them. Soon they will have nothing. This is not good, he said… everything is afraid of them.”

* This was not the first time he was concerned about his children. “Once they had this big world war and the Father of Father’s thought, “I am tired, they don’t listen, all they do is fight among themselves. I don’t understand he said. “They fight, they hurt, they get hurt, they die, get killed, their families are sad, I am sad, everybody is sad and yet they continue. What is wrong with my children ?” When they had another great war he said, “this time I will not interfere, the one’s who like to fight will fight and leave the others to live peacefully after they have destroyed themselves. But, they didn’t learn, they are still fighting and killing each other…

* “I am too old and too tired, maybe they need someone younger to be Father of Father’s,” he said to Owl.. “Owl, I am too old to be the leader of our people. My children need a young leader who can bring them together and end their fighting…

* The Owl said “who”… “Tell my friend the wind to send this message to every part of the world. “I am old and tired. It is time for them to find someone to take my place. Tell my children to send a man and woman, and a boy and girl from each tribe to the Floating Islands”…

* The Owl listened and didn’t believe what he heard… He didn’t say anything, he knew he always meant what he said. When he found the wind and told him, they both cried and the wind howled and howled so loud and strong that it shook everything, there was thunder and lightning and the wind blew like it had never blown before. When the clouds heard the news they cried like babies and it began to rain and rain… and when the flowers heard they were so sad they didn’t open up their flowers… Oh, it was a dark sad day. And when the news reached the tribes of his children, and the whole world heard that their Father of Father’s was not happy and no longer wanted to be their leader. They couldn’t believe it. “How could it be ?.” “He doesn’t want to be our father anymore,” some said. The Owl said, “he bleeds inside whenever their is someone hurt, it hurts him and everything else… he is tired and cannot take seeing his children fighting and killing themselves.” “What will we do ? He has been there since the beginning of time,” some child said. Everybody was sad and cried until they could cry no more. From all parts of the world they came and when they reached the Floating Islands they saw people as far as the eye could see there were people.

* In the middle was the Father of Father’s, and on one side there was the Owl, on the other side was the wind, the sun and the moon.

* The Father of Father’s said “you are my children and my children’s children. I am your father and will always be… but I am old and tired and it hurts me to see that you are hurting and fighting amongst yourselves… I don’t know what to do anymore… maybe you can figure it out yourselves but I leave it to you to pick a new leader.” The owl asked all the children to play on one of the many Floating Islands while the adults talked about what to do. The wise Owl said, who, who… and they all knew they had to pick a new leader. But “who” said the Owls son, and everybody looked at each other.

* And while they talked amongst themselves the Father of Father’s quietly disappeared and went over to where the children were and listened to them talk amongst themselves. They were amazed they didn’t realize how similar and different their brothers and sisters were. They had never seen so many different sizes, colors, faces, hair, eyes, noses… there where black, yellow, white and red skins people, some tall and others short, some had blues, green, brown and black eyes… some even had red and yellow hair… some had lots of hair and other had very little… everything you could imagine… there where some who where so tall they had their heads in the clouds. Oh, what a sight it was, and they where all from the same family. They looked at each other and talked amongst themselves, they couldn’t understand each other, their language sounded like music but only the Father of Father’s knew what they where saying, because they where his children…

* A red skinned boy tried to use his sign language but nobody understood. A black skinned boy tried with his talking drums but nobody understood what he was saying they all couldn’t stop dancing and moving; one girl held up a painting of a lot of children and a ladder going to the sky; another held up a picture of children holding hands; another a bridge between two mountains; another cf a group of children holding up a rainbow; another held up a picture of sunflowers with smiling faces in them. And everybody smiled and began to do something. One group started to make a large painting and each one added something a tree, flower, face, bird, even a flying house, flying windows and trees in the sky everything you could imagine. Someone even painted a window and when you looked into it, it looked back at you, and in another window you could see your family and friends.

. The Father of Father’s watched and smiled as he saw his children happy, and acting the way they should towards each other. He got an idea… He went up to the big painting that they were working on and took a brush and paint. He painted a window in the sky. It was said that whenever you looked at the picture and looked through the window in the sky you could see another window and in that window you could see what you would imagine peace on earth would be like. And when the painting was finished everybody looked at each other and saw something they hadn’t seen before, and when the adults came to see the picture they looked and could see themselves in each other.

* They didn’t pick a new leader but from that day on they met once a year on the floating Islands in the sky and painted, danced, sang and played till they where so tired they fell asleep and the next morning they all woke up in their own beds feeling good all over, with smiles on their faces.

* My great grandfather said afterwards. “Inside us all is a father and a child… when you are talking to yourself you are talking to either the father or child within you.” My great grandfather said that the father inside you is the same inside me, and the Father of Father’s is the Father inside of us all…

Father Father copyright 1993 ver. 2793 page 2 0f 2 geo geller 280 9th Ave, #20B, NYC 10001 email geo@geller.com