Real Life Dragon Balls

I have always admired the concept behind the anime series, the famous Dragon Balls. The story circulates on gathering all seven dragon balls in order to summon a wish-granting dragon. As the story progresses, you will see that it is also about saving humankind from villains whose only intention is to destroy planet Earth. Son Goku, the hero in the story, is a super powerful being who came from an extra-terrestrial race. Despite being an alien to the planet, Son Goku devoted willingly all his super powers in saving Earth.

Back then, when I was a kid I only watched the series because I got entertained. You see, what’s not real gives little children their amazement. Harking back on how thrilled I was seeing Son Goku beating up all those bad guys, I decided to watch some of the episodes again. In the middle of the fighting scenes, my thoughts wandered. If Son Goku comes out from that big box, what would he possibly tell me?

“If I am a real being, your world would have been the luckiest planet in the galaxy. The thing is, I am not.” All I could see now in the screen is Goku looking straight through my eyes and his moving lips.

“See these green places behind me and these big fishes I caught in the river. You can have all of these now if you have powers like mine. Well, that would never happen. You don’t even have the courage to speak out.” I wanted to end this foolishness but I guess I could stand to hear some more.

“This fictional planet is my home. This is where I belong. This is where my loved ones reside. This is where my story began.”

“That very ground where you are placing your soles atop is where your individual stories began, too. You smiled, found friends, got betrayed, cried, got furious, and reconciled. It is also the same place where you got rejected, became loners, found someone to hold on to, and eventually loved. You just don’t realize those.”

“You are unaware of the importance of your planet. Or, you just don’t want to. Well, I bet even if you already are aware of it, you would still act as if you don’t know. Wouldn’t that be a compliment from me?”

“You fear the fact that you’re the ones responsible for your planet’s illness. So instead of making a move, you just let things be what they are – most of the time you let only the advocates do their thing while you are there, praising their efforts. Instead of doing something, you would not even bother to act. All you care about is that you won’t be living in your planet after fifty years anyway.”

“You know what? I’m beginning to suspect you are billions of little villains like Piccolo Daimao, Frieza, and Cell. All of you want to conquer Earth for your own convenience. You want to satisfy your unbearable desires.”

At the back of my head, I’m suffering a teeny bitty bout of conscience and feeling a lot of guilt. His words are beginning to haunt me.

“Don’t ever think that because your planet is living for eons already, it will surpass its poor condition now. Come think of it, you don’t have the dragon balls. No matter how many times you look for them, you won’t find one. You can’t summon a wish-granting dragon. Only my world has it. Yours doesn’t.”

“I am afraid that one day I might see your planet drab, filled with nothing but remains. Of course, I would only be watching it get destroyed, contrary to mine, wherein you watch me save my beloved planet. If you have done some shares, maybe you could have lessened your planet’s illness or probably healed it to some points. That would be a help, you know.”

Before he could continue, I shut the television and rush out of the room to find some air to breathe.

I wonder. If only I could find real dragon balls, maybe the Earth would be greener for billions of years more, but that would be a very lame idea. My fantasies would not allow me to find one because none of them is real, including that spiky, golden-haired anime character. What is real is the world we walk in now.