On the Wings of Hope: Prose (Recognized)

Dao of Programming

"Without wind grass does not wave.

Without programs, the computer remains useless"

So said the Great Programmer

"To the East from the city, in a picturesque valley there is a large computer center with many supercomputers," the man said.

The boy noticed that he is wearing unusual, unprecedented by him before clothes, and there is a strange helmet on his head. He never met him before.

"Do you see?" the man continued. "You will travel there and tell the others of your findings."

"But how will I make my way into that center?" the boy questioned.

"It's up to you to decide," the stranger answered.

The boy reflected and bent his head. When he raised it once more – the speaking man was gone.

Next day the boy went there where the stranger has told him, however, no matter how long he has been wandering through a neighborhood of the city, he encountered neither the mentioned valley nor any other miracle. The following day he was in the countryside once again for he did not believe that such a surprising person could have lied to him. If sometimes they meet again, he will have the right to tell him that he has never seen a mentioned valley, but has heard mysterious unfamiliar sounds, brought from somewhere by a wind.

Many months passed since that, the stranger did not return, and the boy forgot him. Now he was totally sure that he must find that center and uncover its mystery. By the sounds, brought by the wind, he will manage to locate this place and get inside. He lost interest in school and those with who he was on friendly terms earlier. He became a favorite target for sneers and mocking of his contemporaries, who were saying, "He is not like us. He listens to wind for hours instead of playing with us". And everybody laughed at him.

Ten years later, having already become an adult, the boy returned to that city in which he has grown. He has abandoned the thought of finding what the mysterious man was telling him about many years ago. Yet still, he desired to leave a city, listen to the whistling of the wind. He rose up early in the morning and went in that very direction where the wanderer has pointed him once. What a surprise it was for him when, having traveled only about one kilometer away from a city, he has found magical valley, for which he has been searching so vainly before.

When he has descended into the valley, his eyes saw a most amazing show – hundreds and thousands of computers, buildings, wires with sparkling beams of light, sliding on them, connecting each other into something uniform indissoluble whole. There were no signs of men. The boy went forward, curiously looking around. He did not even notice how he managed to enter some sparkling disk, located near one of the highest buildings – and was suddenly teleported inside. What a surprise it was for the boy when that very man who had once told him of this place, appeared before his very eyes.

"What are you doing here?" the boy asked.

"I have been waiting for you," came the answer.

Even though a lot of time has passed already, the man looked exactly the same way as before, in the time of their first meeting. He gave the boy an empty writing-book.

"Write down: When the one who has decided to become a True Programmer, takes his first step, he learns the Way and the Dao of Programming."

"And who is that Programmer?"

"You know that already," the stranger answered, smiling. "The one who is capable to comprehend a miracle of life, to fight up to the end for things he believes in, and change this world."