Forged by
Fire
The hardest days now, prepare
us for the harder days later.
John was walking down the street
when he ran into Guy. He had seen the older man before. John avoided
him most of the time, because he was always wanting to talk about
John’s
life and why John was in such a rush all the time. John was a busy
young man. He was trying his best to get out of this town he lived in,
because he wanted to make something of himself. He was graduating high
school this year, and he had too much on his plate. He was president of
the student body, finishing college applications and interviews,
organizing the senior service project, among many other things. John
was
about to pass Guy when he stopped because he noticed a flyer about
repainting the front to the local grocery store. A kid named Tommy was
trying to organize the project…
Guy approached John from the other
side of the street.
“Hello John!”
Guy said to John.
“Hey, Guy, how
are thing with you today?” John responded realizing his mistake. Never
stop moving!
John started to
walk away but guy caught up to him.
“Wow you look
like you’re in quite a hurry,” Guy said with large grin on his face.
“Typical…” John
mumbled to himself.
“What’s that?
I’m a bit hard of hearing,” Guy said.
“Oh nothing,”
John responded. “I am just real busy trying to get ready to leave for
college. It seems to me that is everything is coming down on me. And I
don’t feel like I can find a way out, and every sign seems to be
another dead end street… like this stupid town,” John said as he
relented to Guy’s inquiring nature.
“It’s sort of
like the story about Rama you told me, and how he felt depressed about
not being to accomplish all his goals. That is sort of how I feel, like
everything is stacked against me right now,” John continued venting his
frustrations to Guy, who just nodded his head in an understanding way.
“Well, there is
another side to that story. It goes back further to the beginning of
Rama’s story,” Guy said.
“Let me tell you
about when Rama began his study under the friend of his father,
Viswamithra,” Guy began.
Viswamithra visited Rama’s
father, Dasaratha, and asked for permission to take Rama out to
vanquish some demons in the place where Viswamithra lived. Dasaratha
did not want to give up his son, but he did not want to deny his old
friend either. Viswamithra had plans to train Rama in the art of
warfare and spells while they traveled. When Rama left his home, with
only his brother to accompany him, he felt scared and too young to
accomplish these tasks. But like you, Rama was motivated to carry out
great things that would bring honor to his family and himself. And he
did not want to disappoint his father. So Rama went. On their journeys
Rama encountered demons to battle, and he found a wife, and he learned
the art of war and piety from this man. His first battle was with an
evil demon woman who was terrorizing the local hermits of the forest.
She tried to attack Rama, and he did not know if he should fight a
woman, but Viswamithra told him to kill her and consider her as the
evil being she was instead of a woman. Later, Rama encountered the sons
of this evil demon, and protected the hermits who were trying to
worship from this evil demon brothers. Rama and his brother shot two
arrows, killing one and throwing the other across the world. But more
importantly than all of this was what Rama learned on this pilgrimage.
Rama and his brother learned many things and became the men they were
supposed to be. Because of the the things they learned on this journey,
a journey
that they had been scared to take, they became the men who would be
able to cross the sea to Lanka and save Sita. They saved the world! And
it all began with that first challenging journey.
“You see John,
many times when things seem like they have become ‘stacked against us’
as you said, it is the beginning of new things.”
“Yeah, Guy, but
Rama was a god. I’m just a normal guy. And this isn’t a story, it’s my
life,” John retorted.
“Ah, perhaps
you are right. Remember though, that even Rama must have felt like
there
was no way for him to accomplish all the tasks laid before him as he
learned the new mantras and studied war. Then it was these difficult
tasks and frightening moments that made him into the man he was. That
was the man he needed to be when it came time to accomplish his
greatest feat, and destroy Ravana! Often times, it is the most
challenging times that we learn what we are made of, and prepare
ourselves for greater challenges in the future,” Guy said as he placed
a hand on John’s shoulder.
“You will
succeed, because you will not be afraid when it is the moment to take
the
shot at the evil demon, and you will take the time to learn your skills
and accomplish your goals,” Guy said softly.
And with that
Guy turned and walked away, leaving John to consider the story. John
turned around and thought about what Guy had said. Suddenly, he felt
re-energized and hopeful about the future. He looked over the poster
about repainting the store. He thought, “I should call this Tommy kid.
Maybe we could team up on this…”
Image Information: This is an image of man that built a bed and
desk for homeless people that looks like a robot. I thought it sort of
looked like our character John trying to figure out what to do in the
middle of the street. I took it from a
design magazine blog.
Author’s note: I retold the story
of Rama and his journey with Viswamithra because it seemed fitting for
a young man who felt like he was being crushed by his goals. The
retelling was a summary of the things Rama accomplished on his journey,
and did not focus on the details of Rama’s life very much. This is
because I wanted to focus on the way Rama must have felt when he left
on the journey, rather than the actual achievements. The achievements
would have seemed irrelevant to John, whereas the fear
and anxiety of Rama were characteristics of the story that he could
relate to. I also made the story link back to the first story of the
frame tale, because I wanted to show the connection between Guy’s
teaching and how he is influencing people in a positive way. This was a
unique retelling because it had less to do with the elements of the
story and more to do with the nature of Rama’s development as a
character and hero.
Bibliography: This story was taken from the Indian epic, The Ramayana.
Street
Gorner Guru
Introduction
Be
Somebody
Act!
The Next Day