The Wendy Story; of History, Mysteries and Perceptions.
Mysteries and perceptions. Some time back, I wrote a story on this blog about a friend called Wendy. I weaved the story to be a tale of love and affection, which taught me about love’s true meaning. Over time, I learned that the story was a real inspiration to my readers. One mystery surrounds the character of Wendy though; who is she and how is she related to me?
Wendy is undoubtedly a sweet name. A feminine hypertrophy built by charisma and obscurity. It may not have been built by my story alone but rather by other stories, some authentic and others created. On the contrary, the name Wendy in a belittling manner means a cowardly person, weak or ineffectual.
The name Wendy, when spoken of a person, is often taken to represent beauty, enthusiasm, sleekness and even bravado. This description stands as an embodiment of feminine attraction; a charm for us the brothers and masculine species.
As you might know, Men from creation were made to be visual creatures and so, when we see the good in our feminine species and sense some ingenuity, some mystery crops up and our perception changes. We look forward to unravelling the “perceived mystery.”
Mysterious things are very valuable (another perception) as served by history. The ability to look evasive and enigmatic has been a strategy to amaze power. This thing about mystery is so sound and strong that history often remembers such and treats them as geniuses. Mostly, something is described of such people as possessing an unusual thing, the point that sparks the mystery.
Mysteries and Perceptions in History
When Leonardo Da Vinci, back in the 15th century, did the Mona Lisa painting, mystery surrounded the painting from his hometown in Florence to Milan where he had moved to and later to the outer world. I am not quite sure of the source of the mystery but perhaps it could be the perception that Leonardo drew about things he had observed and wanted to make them live on paper.
So people started unraveling the mystery behind the painting; who was this woman? What relation was she having with Leonardo? What was it with her facial expression? What circumstances brought about their meeting if the lady was a real person? And so on.
The mystery surrounding the Mona Lisa has made it one of the most prized pieces of art in history. It also serves as the most famous painting in history which has made it to be featured in numberless movies and to be highly secured. Today, the painting is as famous and mysterious as the painter himself.
In 1865, one of America’s greatest statesmen was assassinated in Ford’s theatre. The assassination stood as a mystery because of the assassin himself. John Wilkes Booth, a young theatre actor, pulled a gun on President Lincoln’s head sending him to an early death. Why him?
Though it is suspected that the young man did that heinous act because Lincoln had granted voting rights to the Negroes, it leaves us to wonder if he radicalized himself or if he was under instruction from some other bigger forces.
He, with a clever strategy, managed to assemble a team that made sure Lincoln and some of his friends faced the knife and bullet. Now that it could not change the situation, was the killing worth it? Of course, unraveling mysteries in history or real life requires a lot of mastery which can often be discredited at an instant by a different analogy brought about by a different person.
Around 1905 in Paris, news broke of a young oriental girl dancing in a private home with her body covered in veils. The lady known as Mata Hari created a mystery around her origin and the sense that her style possessed power. The more mysterious she sounded, the more she was sought. People perceived her as some goddess.
So strong was her mysterious nature that she was even executed towards the end of World War I in France after being taken to be a German spy. But before, she had been highly sought after including by the highest officers in government such as ambassadors. Until today, some people still think of her as mysterious even after the truth about her was revealed in court during prosecution.
Joining the Dots
Mysteries surround us in our everyday lives. Sometimes we choose to be mysterious while in others we are mysterious by nature. In my story, Wendy is first mysterious by nature and now she has become mysterious by perception. Perception is created depending on our understanding of a concept or an idea.
We can only unravel such mysteries by joining the dots backwards as Steve Jobs puts it in his 2005 commencement address at Stanford University. So then, let us now try to join the dots backwards on my Wendy.
At first glance, you can take Wendy to be my girlfriend, a soul mate who teaches me for once that true love exists outside the truest one that only comes from the Creator. Wendy is a “good girl,” one you could dream to be or have. She perfectly understands me and matches my expectations. We make the best of a “couple” to be. Wendy is that mysterious “girl” to be with. We have fallen in love or we are in love.
Now take a minute and find hints on whether Wendy is a lady in the story. Funny enough, she meows, steals my food, gets rained on and even dirties my clothes without caring about my feelings. Once you connect the dots, you realize Wendy is a kitty, a lovely cat we clicked with from day one when we met.
Mysteries are created by us, by our perceptions and behaviour. History has shown us such from the Mona Lisa, and John Wilkes Booth to Mata Hari stories. Perhaps they weren’t mysterious but human perception put them so and hence will remain mysterious for as long as human perception exists. Wendy is no exception.
End
Copyright @ 2017.
