Tonight I found a note. A note I had not recalled. Forgotten notes excite me to find bits of wisdom I once had so that I may think of it freshly.

This note was more curious than most. It was folded up as a peace crane; an oragami pattern I know well. My gravitation towards the peace crane lead me to unfolded the carefully creased crane assuming that it contained a particularly strong message, meant for a me which had finally matured.

As I uncreased the crane, I thought about how it was carefully placed in a book a friend of mine had given me long ago, none other than The Meaning of Life by the Dalai Lama. This note must be special indeed. What bit of wisdom lay await under so much toil of life, love, and peace?

As I carefully unwound the words, I noticed it wasn’t very long. I gazed upon the paper to find a date;  09/06/2002. I had just started my junior year in high school, a time when I’m sure I had many thoughts about the world which might differ from my present self, a self which is nearly a fully functional, working, adult. I began to think that this must be a poem. It must be a great poem which would give me insight to my thoughts of yesteryear. Possibly full of hope, possibly full of angst. I was looking forward to seeing what I thought was important and if I still found it important today – and if that were the case – to do justice to the youthful version of me and pursue those importancies with the entire financial freedom and independence I have only recently attained.

I unfolded the last fold, and noticed it was a numbered list. “Oh!” I excitedly pondered “this must be a list of things I must do, or goals that I have for my life. It must be a list of what I thought was truly important”

As I looked down the list, the very first line was curious;

1: walk

I began to realize the purpose of the note as I read down the list…

2: sit down

3: stand up

4: jump

5: door

6: table

7: window

8: jump point

9: desk

10: television

“No” I realized “this is just an in-class quiz.”

I carefully recreased the crane and placed it back home, to realize that this note says more about me, my state of mind, my attitude towards school, and my entire attitude towards life in general than any cognitively written note could ever say about me:

I was and am to this day the kid that folded his classwork up into a Peace Crane and stuffed it into The Meaning of Life; a book that he never actually read.