Red as Deep Earth, Blue as Fresh Water

And now, I am hungry! I have just returned from a long walk around the royal city, after all. The streets are filled with people from every nation, all mingling together right here in the shadow of our splendid palace! And all are here to honor the wedding of our dear Firelord! The world can change so quickly, sometimes. To see crowds of people from the Water Tribes and the Earth Kingdom laughing together with citizens of the Fire Nation, all without any fighting...it is enough to make an old man a bit soggy around the eyes, heh heh. I nearly forgot about lunch as I watched everyone enjoying one another's company. So peaceful.

Well, mostly peaceful, I suppose. I did come upon a pair of men who were arguing most angrily over which was the superior element, earth or water.  I stopped to listen, and their conversation intrigued me. Oh, it was nothing I had not heard a thousand times before, but I wanted to help. Each man defended his own element with the most simplistic exaggerations, and derided the other's element with shameful generalizations. I am sure they would have known better than to use these childish tactics had they been speaking of another topic, but politics can produce pettiness, heh heh.

But I was intrigued because, beneath the generalizations, both men sounded so correct! When the earthbender (I think his name was Baoshou) said that earth is unstoppable, I nodded to myself. He was quite right: earthbending derives its power from, well, the earth, ha ha, and that gives it a potentially limitless supply of endurance! And when he added that water cannot even grow life without needing earth, I nodded again. That was true, at least in most cases.

Yet the waterbender...whose name escapes me now...was it Zhubu? Or Ziyou? Ah, ha ha, anyway, he also said many true things. He spoke of the adaptability of water, praising its flexibility, and he said that waterbenders were the most innovative of all benders. I thought that that was perhaps stretching his point too far, but I had to agree that waterbending does stimulate creativity. Even its mere movements make me feel more creative, though I cannot move so much as a drop with them, heh. And when he accused the earthbender of being rigid, I had to suppress a laugh! Earthbenders are not always rigid - ha ha, Bumi is certainly not! - and yet, the very nature of earthbending can harden the mind and heart.

They went back and forth, and I was fascinated at how many different aspects of earth and water they described! They ignored the complexities of everything they spoke about, but it was thought-provoking anyway. At last, when both seemed to be catching their breath, I stepped closer and invited them to see the truth in each other's words.

It did not go well. Though I explained that it was possible for them both to be partially correct, and though I began describing the necessity for true listening in the place of debate...ah, I am afraid I did little good. Each man repeated the same arguments. Each listed all the reasons why the other was wrong. In the end, they left, each certain of his own correctness. It made me sad, but I stepped back and let their burdens flow through me and then out of me - another trick I have learned from waterbenders!

My heart was still heavy but my shoulders were light again. And now that I am back and eating, I find myself pondering once more the strengths and weaknesses of firebending. I'm glad that conversation got me started thinking; at least someone derived some benefit from it, ha ha!