Origami Crane

Another day just drifting away from me…  I was just sitting there while Wanda took her lunch break.  She said it would just be a quick bite and she would be back, but I knew better.  It had already been twenty minutes and there was no end sight.  Wanda and all the other chickens were clucking away and wasting my time.  I had work to do.  It was bad enough that I was doing the work of two people by myself, but to add insult to injury Wanda had to take her lunch five minutes after Alice had left for her own lunch.  I was stuck at the receptionist’s desk with nothing to do.

I could hear all them, all of them, laughing loudly at something in the break area.  I always wanted to be part of that, but there was always too much work, too much to do, not enough time…  I just couldn’t take it any more.  I took a sticky note and a push pin and started poking holes in it.

I didn’t do it violently; I was just putting the paper between my finger and the pin and pressing just enough so that it would go through and create a nice little hold.  There was no order to it, no logic, no pattern.  There was just nothing, the emptiness where the paper used to be; the void created by the pin, the void created by me.  I had control for once…

The phone rang.  Just as I found some measure of control and joy, I was brought back to reality with the sterile ring of the phone.  “Thank you for calling XYZ.  How may I help you?”  As always, they wanted the one sales person on their phone; the one sales person who wasn’t laughing and having fun with all the others is always the one people call for.  I put them on hold and went back to the paper and pin and continued to press holes into the once flawless surface.

It wasn’t long before I started looking at what I had done.  Why had I destroyed something so innocent, something with such hidden beauty?  Most people would find nothing about a boring yellow sticky note beautiful, but in its own way it truly was.  The flawless surface, perfectly even color, and precisely square design might not have been beautiful to most, but for those select few who can see such beauty in such symmetry it was a masterpiece.  And I had destroyed it.

No, I couldn’t have destroyed it.  It only had a few holes.  It was still the perfect square shape it was before.  The color was just as even as moments before.  The surface might have a few flaws, but everything else about it was the same as before and I knew that it would be a crime to just throw it away like every other person who would see such a thing.

The phone beeped at me to remember the customer on hold.  I glanced at the phone and realized that the sales person had finally gotten off the phone.  I pressed a few buttons and that customer was no longer my problem.  I smiled, one less thing in my life to worry about.  I then turned my attention back to the sticky note and .

I took the sticky note and started to fold it.  First I folded it in half and then unfolded it again.  I did the same the other way, and unfolded it again.  A rectangle just didn’t look right; it just wasn’t fitting for such beauty.  I then tried to fold it into triangles and diamonds, but none of it fit.  The symmetrically folded paper just laid there in a heap on the desk.

My boss walked by.  He frowned at me and I couldn’t figure out why.  I was doing the work of two people and getting it done on time and I was covering for the receptionist while she was squawking with all the other women in the break area.  I was working hard and he couldn’t see all that I was doing.  He refused to look past the surface and into what I was and what I could become.

Wanda finally made her way back.  It had only taken her just over an hour, but like always the time was worth more to me than to her.  I had to take my lunch at my desk.  I had to work harder to catch up before they shut out the lights and closed the door.  I would have to suffer because of what another had done.

I went back to my office with the sticky note and placed it by my monitor.  The small paper frog living under there didn’t seem to mind the extra company.  I smiled and started working.  Hours passed before I looked down at the white frog and folded paper, but that time I knew what I would make it into.  It only took a minute to make, but the results were something worthy of the original beauty.  I made an origami crane that had a radiance I could not help but appreciate.  Despite the many holes, the crane was complete and even more radiant than any crane made out of a flawless sticky note.  Unlike so many others, was unique.  The crane had been through so many hardships in its short life yet managed to become something greater because of those same hardships.

Most people don’t notice the little crane under my monitor.  It and the frog are just quietly going about their own lives without wanting to cause a fuss.  Every now and then somebody notices the crane and wonder at its beauty.  They compliment me on being able to create something of such beauty and wonder how the beautiful holes could exist on such a perfectly folded form.  I only smile and know on the inside that most people wouldn’t have given that little yellow sticky note a chance.  Most people would have thrown it away and let it rot with all of the other unwanted things in this world, but I saw something with immeasurable splendor.  I have my origami crane.