Atlas shrugged

She carried the world on her shoulders, every muscle tensing up under the pressure. She had no other responsibility but to keep the enormous globe from falling. Crumbling beneath its weight, she stood in the garden, barely managing to stand upright. Heavy. Gigantic. World crushing me! Sense of responsibility – let no harm come to that which is in your charge! Cannot drop it, must not drop it. Hold on, this is your validation! Your reason for being! You are so used to carrying your burden anyway, it has become part of your frame. Your posture has gone all screwy. She can remember that it used to be perfect, like a Ballerina. Now, her shoulders and neck and arms are so used to bracing itself and her spine has grown to support her head as it supports the world. Mine and mine alone…

“You know you can’t keep this up forever, right?” came the Voice.
She looks around, not able to discern where it came from. Somewhere… up in the trees perhaps.. She can’t see that far up, the globe on her shoulders is blocking her view.
“Why don’t you let it go?” the Voice says again.
“I can’t let it go!” she replies into the nothing, “I am responsible for it”.
She walks around a bit, partly to stretch her sore muscles, partly to find the owner of the mysterious voice. As she walks, she balances the world, taking it this way and that. She tries to shift the weight a bit to here and then to there. Just a little bit of relief would be nice.
“Just a little bit of relief would be nice, wouldn’t it?” the Voice says again.
It startles her. Can the Voice read her mind?
“Where are you?” she says and then “Who are you?”
Silence.
Then, “I am everywhere and all things. You can see me anywhere you look, if you try hard enough”.
She sighs. “If that is so, I shall never see you. I don’t have a moment to try and see anyone, I have this globe to carry and it is making me tired”.
It was as if she could feel the Voice smiling kindly. She did not fear it.
“Why don’t you let someone else hold it for you?” came the Voice again.
She thought about it for a moment. “No, I do not trust anyone else not to drop it. What if they don’t care enough to protect it? No, it must be my burden alone!”
“Why do you care so much?” the Voice asked.
She didn’t answer.
“You could try to put it down somewhere” the Voice volunteered after a while.
She shook her head, causing the globe to bounce a bit. She recovers from the strain and it goes still again. “I have to keep it in the air, its how this works’. She looked very sad as she said this.
“Perhaps you could put it up in a tree?”
She looks around at all the trees. “That might work - it will have to be a very strong tree, with lots of thick branches…”
She goes in search of a tree. After hours, she finds the perfect one. It is huge, the biggest one she has ever seen. Its branches are thick and look strong. It was the kind of tree that gave off lots of shade. “Here” she says, “But how will I get it up there?”
“You could throw it” the Voice said.
“I don’t think so, what if I miss?” She was getting discouraged.
“Here” says the Voice. As she watches, a ladder appears. It was tall and very sturdy looking. She smiles and starts climbing using only one hand, as the other one balances the globe on her shoulders. About halfway up, she becomes afraid of dropping it and freezes. “What if I fall and drop it?”
“You won’t, just keep going’, prompted the Voice. It keeps encouraging her as she climbs higher and higher. She finally reaches the top and selects the perfect spot to place her charge. She carefully puts it down and almost loses her balance as she stands up straight again. She is not used to the absence of pressure. She stretches out a bit and takes a deep breath. “Climb down now” says the Voice happily.
“No, I don’t want to climb. I want to fly” she says with tears in her eyes.
“Why don’t you jump?” the Voice says as a net appears below her, “I’ll catch you”.
She looks down. It is very far to fall.
“Do you want to say goodbye first?”
“No” she smiles, “I know the world will be safe now. And I am free. Free to pursue other things”. Slowly, she falls forward. Falling and falling, down and down and down, the wind rushing up against her. She falls straight into the net and bounces around for a little while. As she lays there, catching her breath, the Voice speaks again, “What are you going to do now?”
She gets up and stretches out again, enjoying the virtual weightlessness completely. “I guess I’ll do whatever I want…” Giggle giggle.
“And what is that?”
“I don’t know” she shrugs, “I guess I’ll find that out as I go along”. She starts running. On and on and on she runs - embracing the future, paying homage to the past and for the present? Who knows… Perhaps she will return one day, but for now, she is free and can be whoever she wants to be.