The Blank Page

There was once a white speck, an insignificant point of nothing. It moved about a vast nothingness, and was content to do so, knowing that its movement drew the attention of all that looked towards it.

One day, however, it came across another white speck. The speck stuck, and the two began to move as one. They were both happy, because they knew that now their movements were even more noticeable. But it was a compromise, as neither one got to move exactly where it wanted to.

With each day that passed, more and more specks joined the original. Soon, they had formed a thin sheet of whiteness; a blank page that traveled the vast nothingness as a single entity.

The individual specks could move about freely within the confines of the page, but they could not stray from its borders. That was the one rule, strictly enforced to preserve the coherency of the page.

Though each speck’s movements no longer had any significance, as the page as a whole remained a solid white, they were all content to serve the greater purpose.

Eons passed, and the time before the page was long forgotten. The specks continued their daily routines, moving back and forth across the surface of the page inconsequentially.

Then one day, a black speck hurtling through the vast nothingness landed on the page. It intrigued the other specks, for it was able to exist in the page and yet still be noticeable.

Even worse, it drew the attention away from the page as a whole, leaving it and all its movements as background for the single black speck.

They hated the black speck. It made them question their greater purpose, and brought the entire concept of the page crashing down around them. If a single black speck could speak louder than all the white specks combined, what was the point of remaining together?

They cast the black speck off the page, cursing it for being different. For a while, it seemed that the entire incident had been forgotten.

Then, a white speck discovered that it could change its color. It turned black, and began dancing about the page happily.

Others followed suit, and soon the entire page was a dark square of solid black specks.

Time passed, and the original black speck returned to the page. It was surprised to see how much had changed, and it smiled at the newfound compassion of its comrades.

But it left soon after.

The page continued onwards, now all but unrecognizable in the vast, dark void that surrounded it. The page itself still had faith in its purpose, but the individual specks could not believe.

They remained together out of sheer habit.