Dawn breaks.

The first streaks of orange-yellow light split through the trees and shimmer across the surface of the dew-covered meadow. There the butterfly is at work painstakingly trying to wrench himself free from his cocoon.

What was at first a necessary means to his growth has now become an obstacle to his freedom. He pushes, turns, pulls, relaxes, and then begins again.

Each new attempt at freedom brings with it a renewed zeal and intensity as the butterfly strives to be released from the skin of his former self. Finally, in one paradoxical moment of both attainment and surrender, he breaks forth like the dawn and emerges as a new creation.

Does the butterfly see through different eyes and view himself to be completely new in shape and form inside and out? Maybe not at first. However, we see the results of the transformation as he flies by, and all too often, we forget what he used to be.

That becomes irrelevant to us, and so we are no longer inspired to face our own cocoons. Instead, we look upon those who are no longer bound by theirs as the chosen few.

Mark Christopher Brandt