A girl asked her mother what she could do
to make the others see her true value.
The mother didn’t want to give her a simple piece of advice.
That’s why she asked: „Aren’t you valuable, because you are smart and nice?
Aren’t you honest and loyal to those you call friends
or have you ever refused them your helping hands?
Aren’t you unique and perfect, because you are what God decided that you should be.
Always being honest and being yourself seems to be the most important thing to me.
Who sets the standard of what makes people valuable and what does not?
Aren’t we handmade – perfect and unique – created by God?
Looking at you there’s nothing I could complain about.
Please, tell me, where does it come from that doubt,
whether you are valuable as long as you are what you are?
Do you remember your grandpa and his handmade cigar?“
„How could I ever forget him and his special kind of smell?
Yes, I remember it all – more than well.
He and his fragrance have been unique for me
and I’m sure they always will be“,
answered the girl right away,
but she didn’t understand what her mother wanted to say.
„Do you know the reason why your grandpa
decided to smoke this special flavor, this special kind of cigar?
I think we both don’t know and he can’t tell,
but you, do you know why you love(d) your grandfather and his smell?“,
the mother went on talking mild
to her beloved teenager child.
„I like(d) him, because he was honest all the time
and nobody was as special and unadapted as the grandfather of mine.
For me he is the epitome of a good friend
and a really true and close confidant.
He was as extraordinary as the smell of his cigar.
And I could sniff him, no matter if he was near or far“,
the answer to this question came immediately.
„That’s it and that’s what you have to see.
They both are in your memory because they were so unique.
And grandpa always did what he decided to need.
That’s why he decided what flavor, what kind of cigar was the right one for him –
a small one, a large one, a thick or a thin.
He didn’t care, if others would have made another choice.“,
continued the mother in a tender voice,
„Just like he found this special cigar instead of smoking
a cigarette from the machine,
you can find – as long as you are strong enough and
keen – ,
people that are extraordinary like you and him.
But you have to be yourself and you must be ready to swim
against the current and get involved in the unique.
Don’t be a factory cigarette, but play in another, your grandpa’s and the cigar‘s league.“
That’s what the mother had decided to say
and after that, she turned around and walked her way.
Her daughter didn’t say a word, just stood behind
and for the first time she realized that she had been blind.
After a while, she decided to walk to the small cemetery,
because she wanted her grandfather closer to be.
And while she was standing alone
at the grey and old marble tombstone
a breath of air suddenly blew beside her
and brought with it this familiar smell – this I really swear.
All texts and photographs / photos used on this and the following pages are protected by copyright. If you want to use these or parts of them, please contact the author – anja@gezittert-gereimt.de – a text by Anja Allmanritter, Koblenz