The fog

The story I am going to tell you now won't be fascinating or surprising at any point. It will be just four hundred words about an ordinary life of an ordinary man. What is the sense then, you may ask? The sense is in the question that I want you to answer. But first I need your imagination.
So picture to yourself a street. Somewhere in a big crowded city there's a very quiet district with old beautiful buildings and trees. In the middle of this street imagine a house that looks exactly like all the others, with white walls, big windows, red front door and tiled dark-red roof. The same green lawn in front of it without a single fallen yellow leaf. Everything is clean and silent at 6 AM on Thursday morning. Try to imagine a man, slowly opening the door and walking outside to take the newspaper. This man has nothing special, average height, ordinary face with lackluster eyes. Have you pictured it? Then I'll go on.
Imagine a fog. Thousands of clouds fallen right from the sky on the dirty cold earth just to disappear in a few hours. Seems like there's no world outside, there's only you standing in the milk-like fog. The hero of our story is on the porch of his perfect house, holding a newspaper in his hand. He turns his eyes to the street. And sees nothing — the fog is everywhere around him. He lifts his free hand and it looks like the whole universe ends over the edge of his fingertips. Suddenly, out of the blue he starts shivering. Something in this morning silence made him bring back the past. Every single dream he had ever had. Every stupid childish hope that someday he will be important in this world, he will change it, make it better. Every decision he made to become nothing but another gear in the huge machine of life. He remembered all the people he had left behind to reach the goal he never actually wanted to reach. And for a second or even less he asked himself a question. Then he shook his head, driving away the unwanted thoughts, turned around and walked in the house. The door shut quietly behind him.
Now I want you all to remember the same things. Your hopes, wildest dreams, your faith in something better. I want you to think about everything you had forgotten, everything you had traded on place you have now in this world. And after that ask yourself a question. Only one — that's all I need. Was it really worth it?