Faith

“Why is the color of the sky gray, Grandpa?”

Arthur looked at his grandson William -the youngest of three and the most curious of all.

Arthur and William sat on a hill outside the city, watching the sky a few minutes before sunset. Arthur wanted to show his grandson the beauty of a sunset.

But there was something off, because sunsets were not as Arthur remembered from his childhood.

The sun and the sky turned gray, different shades of it, but still. Scientists had been looking for a reason for this for more than 50 years. And during that time, tons of theories emerged. Some are crazier than others.

Religious individuals propagated the idea that this was a punishment for humanity and a warning about the second coming of the Lord, signaling the end of times.

Others had the idea that this was done by aliens seated in the most important positions in the government. This was the last step of the elite to control human will.

Arthur has his own theory.

“It’s because humanity has lost faith.”

William turned his head towards his grandfather, tilted his head, and squirted.

His cheeks inflated like balloons, and his voice turned into a mumble. “What do you mean?” “Faith in God?”

“No, not in God. In itself. In humanity.”

“Grandpa… I don’t get it.”

“Back in my day, the sky used to be blue, a radiant blue, and the sun was kind of white-yellowish.”

“Blue like my suit?”

William’s suit was a heavy, dark blue, space-like suit with a big helmet. It was built using a new nanotechnology capable of resisting temperatures as low as minus 100 Celsius. Excellent for the season.

“No, it is more like blue eyes color. You know, just like your friend Mike’s eyes. "Imagine if the color itself emitted light."

“And the sun was white?”

“Yes, like our light bulbs. And just like the light bulbs that let us see the color of things. But the sunlight is warmer, and when it hits your eyes, you can feel the colors.”

William grabbed his helmet with both hands. “I think my head is exploding and you are just teasing me.”

“Why do you think that?” William looked to his forearm’s computer display. It showed 45 minutes of outdoor support.

“The sky and the sun have been like this since I was born. Is hard for me to imagine them in different shades and colors.”

“Well, I know. Imagine this sunset, not imagine that the white sun suddenly transformed into a huge reddish ball.”

William gave a gaze to his grandfather and shook his head. “How can the sun change color?”

Arthur looked to the horizon and raised both arms.

“When people had faith, light illuminated everything so we could nurture our souls with vivid colors.”

“Do you see those trees?” “The gray pines?” William pointed down the hill where a big pine forest spread across the valley surrounding a large lake in the center.

“Yes, back in my day. Those pines were green, a beautiful deep green that sooth you and made you relax.”

William laughed in disbelief. “Green trees! that’s crazy, Grandpa.”

“Are you sure you didn’t dream all of that?”

Arthur patted William’s helmet.

“I’ll die for you to enjoy the beauty of nature in full color. You see, the lake used to be like a mirror, a blue, shiny mirror. You could see the white, fluffy clouds reflected on its surface.”

The sunset was midway, and a shy solar disk gave the sky and the mountains on the horizon a lighter gray shade.

The sky just above the mountains was a bright white stripe.

“And all of that was because of faith?”

“Absolutely!”

William stood up and started to pace around his grandfather.

“But… how?”

“Humanity took for granted the color of the sun and the colors of nature.”

“But..? why is there always a but?”

“Turned out that faith is a strong energy; we didn’t know back then. Faith fed back the energy of the sun. And the combination gave us a white sun and a light that when touched something reflected a color for the human to enjoy.”

William stood still in front of his grandfather with mouth hands on his waist. Nodding his head with each word. “And what happened?”

“Why has humanity lost the faith? We became self-centered. Our egos grew greater than anything. The majority stood inside their homes, fixated on technology.”

William sat heavily beside his grandfather.

“They lost their faith.”

“Yeah, and without that energy, the sun started to turn gray. With the sun gray, days became grayer and sadder. “

William tucked his head, looking at the gray grass. “The other people got depressed and preferred to stay indoors.”

“And the lack of faith not only affected the color of the light, but its warmth.”

“So, that’s why now all is frozen. And we need to live inside those silos.”

The sun had completely set, and the temperature started to drop below minus fifty Celsius.

Arthur looked at his arm console and stood up. Waving William to follow him.

“It’s time to go back.”

William stood up and looked up at the starry sky. A big sigh fogged his helmet visor.

“Can we have all the colors back, Grandpa? I would like to enjoy just as you did.”

“There’s still hope. If we as a civilization start to come out and wow again, looking at all this.” Arthur opened his arms, pointing to the whole horizon.

“If we can see the beauty even now that all looks gray, then the faith within us will complement the energy of the sun and color will be back.”

William held Arthur’s hand and started to walk back to the silo’s entrance.

“I’m going to tell all my fined to come with us to see the sunset and you could tell them the story about faith and colors.”

A bright smile adorned Arthur’s face. “Absolutely, kiddo.”

The heavy silo’s door closed behind them before the temperature dropped to minus 120 Celsius.