How I was Caught

          

 How I was Caught

           My lung stopped. 

           I was standing on the tip of a cliff edge, struck out of breath by the mightiness of a gargantuan basin with towering monuments forged by nature: the Grand Canyon. I was ten years old, traveling around the States with my parents and older sister. I was a little boy, and I was caught by rocks. The simple vastness emptied everything inside me: thoughts, fear, awe, beauty, blood, whatever you say. Never in my life, even until now, have I experienced a force greater.

           My family and I were on a trip to the west half of the States. We didn’t follow a tour company; all of us disliked the restraints that accompanied group tour. We encountered several interesting sights, like remnants of Pueblo houses. But I soon became tired of the long trip. One of the last stops in the journey was the Grand Canyon. On our way, father handed out pictures of the Grand Canyon to me and my sister. Pretty. Awesome. I thought. The colorful grooves on the surface of the rock towers and the red river that seemed to gently flow in the picture caught my eyes. Father stopped the car and we dragged our bodies out of the car. We were on a rocky road with trees on the sideways. We followed the path for a bit. After swerving around a corner, we found empty air greeting us at the end of the path, about 50 meters ahead of us. The road simple stopped and all we could see was whiteness, blemished with few blobs of cloud. We walked a little more.

           Suddenly, so abruptly that it happened in a matter of three steps, the Grand Canyon unrolled itself, pouring into eyes, body, and soul, like a tsunami. That moment when nature finally revealed its existence to me, my feet were immobilized by a rope stronger than that made out of money, fear, excitement, or even love. After a few minutes, my head cleared out and mixed feelings of awe, fear, and beauty materialized and mingled.

           That night, I wondered whether I would feel the same if I were to meet God. I was overwhelmed by the realization that I, a person that had been the center of everything, was nothing. In this vast world, I was nothing more than an ant among millions of others walking by a human foot. Of course, this single experience didn’t bring huge changes to my character. But it certainly allowed a room inside my brain to roll around with the idea of something not me. So far, it had been so busy operating with my feelings, my interests, and my future.

           I wasn’t into God. I wasn’t into Mother Nature. It was more like a shock to realize that such greatness existed, and had always existed regardless of who I am. Some things were simply out of my reach. Some things I simply had to watch.

           That moment when my eyes opened to the world, I was caught.