La Rochelle Yearbook 2025

BUDDING AUTHORS

Messages in the streets

Time Butterfly The thin hand of the clock ticking. Golden sand falling through an hourglass. Shrinking shadows of the sundial. One word: Time. Throughout history, we have used time to bring meaning to life. Time is a contradiction; both life-giving and life-timing. We have schedules and alarm clocks, telling us what to do and when to do it. On the other hand, there are creatures who use time to their advantage, transforming themselves. These creatures are called caterpillars. As you know, caterpillars-after a long time growing into creeping little worms with legs – wrap themselves in a cocoon… and wait to turn to turn into a butterfly. In the same way, sometimes we need to crawl into our own cocoons, our own safe spaces and… breathe. We don’t have to be lazy. or stagnant, but society is realizing that humans are not machine guns, capable of firing hundreds of bullets in a few seconds. We are living creatures with weaknesses and doubts. That being said, the caterpillar doesn’t just sleep in its cocoon. As it is nestled up there, it is growing, changing, evolving. Wings are in the making. The caterpillar has no choice, but to grow. It’s the same in humans. So much emphasis is placed on the beautiful butterfly with its iridescent wings, but people forget about the tiny little caterpillar it used to be. What work was put in to become the rare being that is the butterfly. We, as humans, should work to be constantly changing, learning every day. Only then can we experience the first fruits of flying: living. Did you know that after emerging from its case, the butterfly has an incredibly short lifespan? It has the chance to fly for 2-3 weeks. After that, it forms part of the same soil that bore the tree from which its cocoon hung. In that time, however, the butterfly brings happiness and hope to all who are lucky enough to catch a glimpse of it. It flies, it soars, fluttering its wings at the same rate our hearts beat. We forget that our days are numbered, too. There is no such thing as “Tomorrow, I will…”, because tomorrow cannot be taken for granted. Instead, we should use what we have today to create a life that is beautiful and that has meaning. If we spread our wings and reveal our hearts, we can spread beauty into the world. We have to see that time waits for no one, but that when it is used well, it is an element that is as enchanting and alluring as a butterfly’s wings. Zaidia Brandt

A cold night is brought to life once an old man starts to play on his dusty guitar. Music fills the streets. Some men gather around to play cards. Children running in the streets. A mother, cooking today’s meal starts to hum along to the song and for a moment it felt normal.

It felt as if they were not all sitting amongst the rubble of their previous homes. As if children were not running to fetch today’s water. As if the mother had not just cooked the entire community’s meals out of one pot. As if that guitar had not been the only thing from his family, he still had with him. How could it have gotten to this? Humans put into these circumstances at the hands of other humans.

For many looking to the sky and seeing a change of colours represents the dawn of a new day. But to them it is a warning-a reminder that any day might just be your last. Seeing a shooting star as a blessing, a reminder of hope. But to look to the sky and not know whether one should be wishing or praying is enough to question the existence of humanity. We have become accustomed to a world in which this is normal. Where current headlines are plagued with the brutality of war, the dishonesty of politics and the violence of the everyday-man. We have become so desensitised that we have lost our sense of humanity. But in a world that cast itself in darkness it is so easy to miss the light- and one does not need to go very far to see it. It is in our conversations and in the power of speech. It’s in the songs that can be heard and sung in the streets. Hundreds and thousands of people gathered, all trying to be seen. Calling, shouting, wanting to be heard. It is in the efforts of those who try again and again, despite knowing that their prayers fall onto deaf ears. It is in those who do simply what they can, because these people give us hope. They remind us that humanity is not dead. But as we look back to the family in the rubble and the people fighting over water, we wonder what this humanity is doing to help. And we wonder how those who, have the power to put a stop to this or to help rebuild have chosen silence. How could they choose to ignore the signs or the cries or the prayers of their fellow men? How could they ignore the messages in the streets? Shasha Bayman

Hoër Meisieskool La Rochelle | Girls’ High School | 45