Creative Writing: The Old Man

“It’s always darkest before the dawn” said the old man with the long and thick white beard. This man was a famous “master”, with many students under him who paid considerable sums of money on a regular basis to receive his teachings. He advertised himself as a source of profound truths and often quoted Confucius – one of his favorite sayings was “The moral force of the profound person is like the wind; the moral force of the small person is like the grass. Let the wind blow over the grass and it is sure to bend.” Of course, “the profound person” referred to himself. However, today an uninvited guest had turned up to one of his lectures. Of course, the old man was getting on in years so he couldn’t notice such minute changes in the large crowd that had gathered around him, especially since he was on the same elevation level and thus could only see the people at the front of the crowd. As soon as he finished speaking, a man wearing black clothes and a large conical hat which obscured his face barged aside a few people and made his way to the front of the crowd, his right hand resting on the handle of something that hung on his left hip. By the point the suspicious looking man made his way to the front of the crowd, he was a mere 6 meters away from the old master.

“Heh.” the man said, the disdain for the old man’s words obvious in his voice,

“You call

Later some would comment: “He neither knew martial arts nor hired any decent bodyguards to protect himself, and had paid the ultimate price for it. Such is the state of society now.” whilst others would say “this is yet another example of barbaric violence triumphing over culture and civilization, what is the world turning into?”. None of them, of course, knew the truth behind the old man and the man who had assassinated him in broad daylight. Of course, those who knew the truth would not have made such ignorant remarks nor commented upon the incident in public for that