The Spotlight

Prompt
The prompt for this piece was as follows:

"A picture is worth more than a blank page. Take out those dusty photo albums. Pick out photo number 14. Count whichever way you like, but make sure you stop at #14. Look at the photo for 2-3 minutes. Then, for 10 minutes, write everything that the photo made you think and feel. Don't censor yourself. Just write."

I picked the 14th photo on my Facebook profile, found a theme and just went with it. Hope you guys like it - feedback is always welcomed.



Hovering.

Lurking.

Melting… fading away.

Appearing in the background, shadowy and obscure. Hanging, somewhat unusually, out of the spotlight; content, perhaps, to take a moment to step back, and observe what you have, what you might always be lucky to have… or maybe what could’ve been?

A mismatched group of individuals, cobbled together for such an enormous event, and it’s clear that their roles – our roles – are unclear. Stances are awkward, smiles forced – how can there be so much imperfection in this image of celebration?

But maybe… maybe we only notice these tiny blemishes, these minute defects, when we are stopping and thinking – really thinking – about a given time, a given place, a given situation. Reflecting from afar, looking on from a distance. Silently watching, unnoticed…

The spotlight shines once more.

Quick!

Time to think. Time to act.

Imperfections… certainly, the imperfections of others; the brighter the spotlight shines, the further they fade.

What do we learn from these snapshots in time? The spotlight lies, it seems. Distorts reality, perhaps. Or maybe just offers us an alternative truth.

The difficulty is knowing which spotlight should shine, knowing who should stand where on this stage we call life…

And knowing which truth to believe…