Her centre of the universe.
The way a child looks at her mother is a marvelous thing.
Her life-giver and carer, right by her side, to admire and love.
"Happy Birthday Mama!", as she excitedly whips out a hand drawn card of her family, her home, a tree, and one large, red flower she really liked. Kisses, hugs, a mountain of love, and oh yes, chocolate. Chocolate is a sweet, solid block of affection. Starting off as the bitter, hard seeds of the Theobroma cacao tree, chocolate has been around for 4,000 years. Beginning its roots in ancient Mesoamerica, the cacao plant spread its shoots across the world. Taking root in the soils of other lands, like Africa. Today, on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, West Africa, the Ivory Coast produces the largest quantity of cocoa beans. "70% of the world's cocoa beans come from four West African countries which are the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, and Cameroon. The Ivory Coast and Ghana are the two largest producers of cocoa, [and] together cultivate more than half of the world's cocoa."[1] That's a lot of cocoa.
But, let's get back to a beaming child who's more than ready to help her Mama blow a candle, cut her Mama's chocolate birthday cake, and make a wish together. With two large glints, one in each of her eyes, her Mama slices the chocolate cake and gives beaming eyes one, large chunk. The little girl absolutely cannot help herself, and bites into her slice of cake, savouring its rich, sweet texture as it melts in her mouth, and warms her heart. Chocolate, and the cocoa production industry, isn't only a lucrative business. Providing jobs and sources of income, it's a form of tenderness. It shows how much we care, and want to make a special Mama smile. It's shared for birthdays, wedding anniversaries, any anniversaries, festivities, Valentine's Day, and the alphabet of special occasions which exist on earth. As humans, we're very good at showing each other how much we can love. Care and gentleness is an inborn quality we evolved with as a species. No other living being we know of can express love the way we do. It makes us quite beautiful beings, when you put everything else about us at a distance. In all of the you-name-it forms chocolate comes in; hot and cold, creamy and hard, soft and dazzled with liquor, chocolate turns our world around on a different axis. An axis we run as human beings, who are born to love for a very long time.
I'd like to name that our "lifeline axis", an axis that runs on human love. The lifeline axis takes all of us with it, it spins us around. It spins our world around. Whoever did right the letter on 'The Universal Force of Love', was right. Love is our universe.
The inborn qualities of a mother, motherhood, and the care and love she gives; we can see it reflected in flesh and smile through beaming eyes. Therefore, chocolate does make the world go round. It definitely does for a little girl and a little boy, who see their mother; their universe, smiling as she's just about to cut her chocolate birthday cake.
Children,
Mothers,
Fathers,
Cake,
And Chocolate,
What marvelous things
To admire and love.
Conclusion
From marveling our living world, to the universal force of love, excess, development, and boredom, ends 'A Series of Ten'. If you did follow the series, which can be read in any order - My reasoning behind the series was to raise certain questions. Plus, to think about the qualities and drawbacks of being human. Questions I, and maybe you, think about. To end on a sweet note, 10. Chocolate makes the world go round, is one of my favourites from the series. To me, writing and connecting the words together feels organic. Particularly, with an image and concept, giving words to feelings is a gentle, human remedy.
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