11 Father - Son talk

While Jakob got ready to tell Moon what happened at the meeting Moon had a few questions of his own.

"Dad. I wanted to ask you something." Moon started fidgeting around with his hands.

"If you have to say something just say it. I won´t get mad or anything. Quite the opposite, actually. I would always prefer it if you come to me with your concerns.

I am your father after all. Your problems are also mine, and my job is it to protect you and help you grow into a strong and fine Antoid."

Jakob kept eating while watching his son. He could clearly feel that there was a lot on his mind. But if he opened up to him or not was entirely up to Moon.

"I.. " Moon started but stopped again. "I don´t know how to say this, so I say it in the most stupid way possible. Ugh. I hate sounding dumb.

Anyway. What is our endgame here? We just lost like 99% of our people, slaughtered by these Mammal bastards. And what do we do here? Play around in the mud? Struggling to survive?

I am no small child anymore, I know that if we don´t do something soon we will run out of food during winter. Or even worse, the Mammals find us and destroy what little is left of our once amazing Hive." Moon clenched his fists, furious with anger now. It seemed as if he wanted to punch a hole in the newly made house.

"What are we supposed to do? We can´t keep living like this. I mean, what is even the point. We could die at any moment. Why don´t we do something about this? Why CAN´T we do something about this?" Moon went from furious to sad in barely a few moments.

"Good" Jakob thought. "I was hoping that my son wouldn´t succumb to rage as I did when I was younger. Thank the Hive he got the gentle and mindful manners of his mother.

"Listen, Moon. I want to ask you a question first before answering your questions. What is the meaning of life?" Jakob leaned back so he could rest a little against the wall, while closing his eyes.

"The meaning of life?" Moon asked.

"Yes, son. It is an easy question, isn´t it? What is the meaning of life?"

"Hmm" Moon got quiet. "The meaning of life..." Moon stood there basically motionless for another few minutes but he didn´t have an answer.

"I don´t know." Moon finally said. "We all die at some point anyway. living our life, going through one hardship after another, losing lost ones left and right. Honestly, I can´t see it."

Jakob chuckled. "Of course that would be your take on it right now." Jakob sighed and took a deep breath.

"Truth is, I don´t have a correct answer either." Jakob was quiet for a while and now it was Moons time to sigh.

"But I can give you my answer, if you want to hear that one." Jakob stood up, smiling and left the house. Moon immediately followed him. These past few days were still the worst in his life, and after talking about it for a bit he realized that felt really terrible all around. It wasn´t just his body hurting, but also his soul, his heart and his mind. He felt restless and without purpose like he never did before. So all he could do walk behind the broad back of a dependable Antoid that he called dad.

Jakob started walking slowly through their little Hive, the few buildings didn´t even seem like a settlement, yet Jakob felt oddly at peace here. It was a deep primal feeling like somehow, they were on the correct path.

"Life is hard. It puts you through the wringer multiple times during your lifespan. It pushes you, it shoves you, it kicks you while you are down and it laughs at you. It helps you get back up only to throw you down harder the next time. Watching you almost get destroyed a little bit more after each feel, you get the feeling the life just wants you to see you suffer." Jakob got quiet again.

Moon wanted to say something but didn´t know what. He felt that his father was speaking from experience. Just as Moon opened his mouth Jakob continued speaking.

"But that is only the dark side of it. Life has a dark side, as much as everything else. Even something good, like nice roasted pork, or a glass of warm milk on a chilly day has a dark side if you look long enough.

But there is a very bright side of life, that you should never stop considering. It is exactly that. Your life. And especially what you do with it. Now, you can think or say that there is no purpose in life whatsoever, but you could also argue that what you do with your life and how impact others is exactly the purpose you are looking for in life.

For example, if you help someone in need or do something good for them.

Then again, this is getting very complicated and it is getting late. I have actually a very simple rule for how I handle life. Do you want to hear it?" Jakob stopped walking, looked at his son and simply smiled.

"Yes of course!" Moon answered enthusiastically.

"All I do in life is what feels good and right, without hurting someone else. There are, of course people that need to be hurt, but that is a very good rule of thumb. That is the way I stride through life, and that is how I handle exactly the question that you asked first: what is the purpose of life?"

And this is my answer:

It is to live it to your hearts content."