Who's the luckier of all???

     One night the caravan stopped for rest on a small city somewhere in the mountains. It was the caravan of a moving circus which would perform every week in a different city. It was dark and cold so everybody gathered around the bonfire, to drink and get warmer. They had been together for a lifetime,working in this circus for almost their whole life. No body was really in the mood for talking because of their journey the past three days. The sound of the crackling fire was the only sound that broke the silence all over the camp. 


     - "I wonder who is the luckiest of you famous performers" said one of the carriers. - "I believe the animal trainer is the luckiest of you".


     - "Sure I get to work with animals. But animals are my friends. The tigers and the lions are not beasts as most of you think. I hate to treat them like I do. I have to whip them to make them obey. I have to let them starving for days for them to behave. I have to imprison them and treat them unfairly every week when we are on stage and perform. I am not happy doing my job, by bringing pain to the animals who have been my companions for so long", said the animal tamer.

     - "Then the acrobat is the luckiest of you. People always admire him with awe", said the same carrier.                                                                    


     - "People often admire my acrobatic skills. They like the sense of danger. And I give them what they need when I am hanging 20 meters over the ground, doing my acrobatics.  But my whole body is strained. I have to train hard 3 hours per day just for a 20 minute show per week. My bones are sore, and my muscles so tensed that could anytime collapse. And above all, despite the applause in the end, I fear each and every show simply because if I lose my concentration for a minute I will fall to my death. No, I am not lucky. I am terrified of each performance", said sadly the acrobat. 


     - "Then the magician is the luckiest of you all. He makes all those tricks with his hands",said once again the carrier.


     - "People are thrilled by my tricks. They believe that I am a real magician. They applause me or get scared of me. But the truth is that I am simply an illusionist. I deceive people, by using tricks not impossible or unachievable. I only use tricks that are hard to comprehend.  Tricks that the eye can't see. On the inside I am nothing more than an impostor who tricks the audience to believe what it wants to believe. I might seem glamorous and wise on the outside, but on the inside I am as insecure as everybody else, and sometimes even more than that.", said the illusionist.


     - "Then the clown must be the luckiest of you all. He is always smiling, even now that we don't perform", said happily the carrier like he had finally found his answer.

     - "You can see me act abnormally. I play with balls. I tumble over and fall. I wear those colorful clothes, that red nose and that oversized shoes. I make children laugh. I even make adults laugh with my clumsy ways. You see me smile all the time. Do you think it's easy. I am human, and I don't laugh all the time. But I have to pretend the smiley person, even when inside me I cry like a little child. And my smile is not true. I am sad. I am unhappy inside. I have problems but no one can or wants to see them. Cause I wear make up. I wear that big long smile on my face, just to hide the pain that roams inside me", said with a sigh of pain.                                                                     


     - "This can't be the truth. You can't all of you be unhappy. You are all top performers. Everybody attends the circus only to see you. I am only a carrier. I carry things around so that you can do your tricks. I work all day for the stage to be ready, and when you perform instead of relaxing I stay behind the stage and admire you. You can't be unhappy!!!", said the carrier with despaired voice.


     - "I AM THE LUCKIER OF THEM ALL", said a voice. The sound was coming from a dark corner. A man had been waiting in the shadows for so long, listening to their conversation. But nobody had noticed of his presence. The man stepped forward, so his wrinkled face was lit by the burning fire. It was the manager of the circus. He was the owner, the responsible for the financial, the one who took care of the next show. But he was like a shadow. He didn't often appear in public. He refrained from any social interaction. He spend most of his time in his own wagon locked away from the rest of the circus and the world. He gazed at all the faces of those gathered around that fire and began telling a story with a strange disappointment in his look.


     - "20 years ago when my wife died, I was devastated. I was broken and despaired. I was a directing manager of a company back then. I am sure nobody of you knew that. I had money and a great career ahead. But life took away from me the only thing that money will never buy. Life took away the most precious thing I had. My wife died of a decease which could not be healed, despite the fact that I visited the most famous doctors. It was meant to happen this way. Losing her, left me with no more desire to live anymore. So I quit my job. I sold my house and my valuables, and with all the money I had I bought this circus. I wanted to give to the people and the children of the world what was violently taken from me. I wanted to give them joy and smile, even when I knew that those two would fade by the time the passed the exit door. All of you have been together with me for 20 years. I have barely spoken with most of you. You think of me as a stranger, but I secretly watch and admire each of your performance. You have been a family to me all those years. You have been friends,children,family and colleagues to me. You never complain about your hardships. You never asked for a raise even though what I pay you is not much. You never abandoned my circus even when you were given the chance to work in bigger and better ones. You have grown old, and I have grown even older You spent 20 years of your precious youth in my circus. And no matter how hard the circumstances were you always stood for my circus. Not my circus anymore. This is and always be OUR circus. I told you before. I AM THE LUCKIEST OF YOU ALL. Because I have you all with me"...


     
The manager's eyes were filled with tears. He hugged separately every single one of his "colleagues" and got lost into the shadows, mysteriously, just like he had appeared.