The Friendly Wind

Like people, every wind has a different personality. There are the cold-hearted arctic winds who only allow the toughest in their presence, the cool summer breezes who like to seduce people, and the hurricanes who are like wild children, relentless in their need to play. 

This story is about a very sensitive wind. See, most winds don’t care about people that much, they just blow however they want. This one cared perhaps a bit too much about humans. He could sense their feelings as he passed them, and the more negativity he felt, the harder he would start to blow, driven by anxiety and the fear that these people didn’t like him, that he was not welcome. 

The simple insight that had escaped this little, insecure wind was that the harder he blew, the more negative feelings he raised amongst the people. And so it happened that he blew harder and harder, fuelled by all the negative emotions that he himself had created in them. He stormed through the streets, through the cracks in walls, and the parks where he created chaos for all the picnicking people there. It was a terrible situation altogether. 

This went on and one until one day he got tired. With all this negativity and storming he never got time to rest, to just gently wander through the streets as the people did. He was exhausted, so exhausted that one day he just decided to stop blowing entirely. That way he wouldn’t have to feel the emotions of the people around him, to hear all their unwelcoming thoughts as he passes them. 

This became a problem for the people. They would have never expected it, but they missed him. Now that he was gone, there was no one to blow the leaves off the ground. Without him, the sun burning down on them felt relentless and without him howling through the streets, those winter nights inside the house with hot cocoa felt far less cozy. But, no matter how much the people pleaded and begged for his return, he refused to come back.

This was until one day a little girl was listening to music in her room and he was summoned by the movement of her dress, swirling in the air. There he was, back to life in this room with a girl who laughed and danced, jumped and sang. Excited as he was by experiencing all her positive emotions, he started to swirl around her, dance with her, and sing along by blowing through empty bottles and chimes. He blew strong, gently, and pleasantly. 

The girl ran outside and told the people she had found the secret to bring back the wind. All they needed to do was dance, and so they did. Pretty soon everyone was dancing in the streets, together with this friendly, sensitive wind. 

And you know what? Every wind has his own personality, and he became the friendliest wind that ever blew.