~ Unlightable Candle ~

Sharing? What comes into mind with this simple word "sharing"? Do we need to be very rich to be able to share? Do we need to have everything in the world to be able to share? Must sharing be in a form of material? Or simply anything can be shared?

To me, a simple act of kindness is sharing. It need not to be from someone you know well, it is not a lengthy heart-touching speech, it is not about every diamond and gold that you pour on earth. It may be just a simple smile, a hand that helps in time of despair, an ear that listens, a wisdom/knowledge that is shared together...

I have just returned from the trip to Taize Poznan. There was this one night when everyone entering the hall was given a candle. Somehow I missed it. I was "candleless". I was too lazy to go to the entrance to collect my candle. So, I sat down quietly, praying. Not for the candle, of course.

As the prayer ceremony started, people started to light the candle and pass it on. I was sitting there looking at what people were doing. Basically the whole hall of thousands of youths were trying to light their candles. The guy on my left was looking at me candleless and was looking for some people with lit candles to light up his.

And after a minute or two, I noticed that the girl sitting at my right was trying to melt her candle. She was holding her candle horizontally, and her friend beside her held the other lighted-candle trying to burn the first candle. As it melted the first candle into two, the girl lit the first half and passed the short-halved lit candle to me, smiling, "You can have this."

I took the candle, somehow tears filled my eyes. At that specific moment, I was just touched by her little action. I forgot to mentioned that the second halved candle that she has in hand wasn't able to be lighted, maybe because of the wax that melted from the process of halving the candle. Yet she passed me the lighted half, instead of the waxed half. I passed her back the lighted one, which obviously she refused to accept. But still I exchanged with her. But it was time to blow our candles off. It is a memorable halved candle.

A simple act of sharing is not about every money one has, it's not about sharing the whole world that you have. A simple smile, a simple halved candle is a touching sharing story for me. The candle is broken during my journey back. But for me, it is a memorable unlightable candle that reminds me the true meaning of sharing ... ...