The drop of water

Cristina Maffei

After many years it returns to my mind a story that I used to read to my young son in the evening before his sleeping.
I hoped that the last words of the day could accompany him in order to enlighten his dreams and allow him to have a peaceful sleep. Therefore, I wanted that these words were sweet, tranquil and reassuring in order to instil peace and security after the stress and turmoil of the day.
Even for a person that faces life, the daily tasks are burdensome and beyond measure in relation to the light baggage of abilities that he has to face them.
The stories he preferred were two, one of them was more uncommitted and fantasy like, the other was more instructional and real. Some paragraphs of this one had become a rhyme that we would repeat in unison, crooning it and competing who could quicker memorise the parts we liked most. I also profoundly loved to narrate this story because it brought me back to my mountain origins and I could transmit to my son their purity, but also because it was the allegory itself of life. The symbols and pictures utilised were simply didactic in order to explain the vital route of water, but the situations, the concepts and the contexts were the metaphor itself of existence.
"My name is Claire and I am a drop of water. I am a prisoner in a large iceberg situated in a basin on a very high mountain. It is spring, the sun is hot and the iceberg moves with a slow descent towards the valley underneath. Above me, the blue sky shines and a lone eagle is flying towards the orient. A bit of ice melts slowly, slowly and the water begins to give life to a vivacious, sparkling stream. Even the snow has melted on the sides of the mountain, so that other water unites with the stream which, little by little, always becomes more of a rushing stream.
Now I am free, I am a happy drop of water and discover to have many companions like me. We are inebriated from this crazy running that will bring us down to the valley amongst beautiful mountain scenery…"*
Claire is a drop of water that, from her birth at the epilogue, feels human sentiments and sensations.
In her fantastic journey through life, she visits various unknown places, meets other drops, some similar and some different, she overcomes numerous obstacles, passes dark moments of confusion and discomfort and other moments of light and happiness. During her journey towards her destination she loses many companions that choose other paths, often she feels inadequate and afraid, sometimes she feels confident and curious about her adventure that appears to be endless.
She knows the source from which she came, but ignores where her journey will end.
She is certain about one thing: in some place, under the immense sky, there is always a fresh current of crystal clear water which she can trust by instinct and let herself be transported in a state of salvation and pure freedom.
"….until we become soft and luminous clouds. We back away slowly, pushed by light breezes and after some time we find ourselves once again lapping on the ice where my journey began. Maybe I will go on this journey again soon, but I hope that mankind has foreseen for me to find a better environment…".*

*Text excerpted from: ´´The story of your glass of water`` realised by the Consortium of drinkable Water in the Cities of the Province of Milan, with the participation of the Superintendence of Studies of Milan.
Printed by: Amilcare Pizzi Arti Grafiche S.p.A.- III Edition 1993.