There was a village in a jungle. So dark was this jungle that they kept the fires burning all day and all night, so that they could see where they were going. One day one of the tribesman took a walk. During his walk, he took all the familiar trails, for the jungle was so dark that the only safe trails were the familiar ones. He walked and walked, so long and so deep that he felt he had walked every trail known to his people. He felt good about knowing every trail. But upon coming around the last bend of the last trail, he realized he had never actually gone anywhere. He had only walked familiar paths.
So he determined to set off through the jungle without using any trails. He grabbed a torch from the fire and set out. The way was difficult, with many vines and pits to avoid. It seemed to him that the jungle itself was set against him, and he wondered why. But his torch kept burning and burning, and this made him all the more resolved to cut through and go somewhere. He did not even know where, just somewhere.
By and by he arrived at a deep, uncrossable ravine. A great light streamed down into the ravine, so brightly that he had to hide his eyes. Finally his eyes could make out a great plain on the other side, bathed in light. He climbed a tree, and from this vantage point thought he could make out some moving shapes far in the distance, but couldn't tell what they were. So he decided to walk beside the great chasm to see if at some point the jungle and the plain would meet and he could cross over into the light. So he set off, gazing across the ravine whenever he could. Yet on the jungle side of the ravine, he was completely in the shadows, and had to keep his torch in front of him every step.
After walking many days, he noticed that the ravine began to widen. This discouraged him, for he could not see the other side as well as before, and he was tempted to go back so he could at least see the other side again. But just as he was about to turn back, he came to a bridge. This bridge hung very low into the ravine, and was made with great jungle vines and some sticks. The bridge was so long that he could not see the other end. He could only see as far as the lowest point of the bridge. Such was the great distance now between the jungle and the plain.
He could see that the bridge was in disrepair, and clearly had not been crossed for some time by anyone. He noticed there were no trails leading to it from this side of the jungle. But he knew this was the way to the great plain, and the vines seemed strong, so he put down his torch, stepped into the light, and started across. Slowly at first, but then as his eyes adjusted to the light, and as he got used to the swinging of the bridge, he was able to walk more quickly. After many days of making his way across the bridge, he at last reached the other side. And the first vision of the plain was glorious.
He found foods growing that he had never tasted. With the first bite he felt his strength renewed. Immediately he thought of his fellow tribesman, and after sleeping for a while on the plain, he set out to cross back over the bridge. And upon arriving back on the jungle side, he picked up his torch (it was still burning!) and made his way back to the village the same way he had come.
When he reached his village, he started calling to the villagers. "Come and see the great bridge that I have found! It leads to a Great Plain where there is food -- and LIGHT! We don’t have to live here anymore! Come with me!" But the villagers didn’t listen, and so he called the more loudly. Still they did not listen. And he stayed there many days trying to convince his people that the Great Plain was glorious and that the bridge was safe...
hey man, I've seen this on the side bar of your blog for a long time but never read it til now.
ReplyDeleteWhat a common dilemma at the point in the story where you've stopped.
Two things come to mind about the people in the village's resistance. Two things that are quite common, I think:
1) overselling. The folks in the village could well be numbed to the description of the Great Plain. They've heard it ten million ways and sideways, over and over and over again. They've heard and know all about the plain though they've never been. The descriptions at first were intriguing. Sparking curiosity, maybe even a little experimentation or venture to see. It was sure described as "It". Yet whether they dabbled a little bit on the outskirts of the Plain or whether they didn't, they have perpetually been told about it. Except, in the last some odd years, the descriptions of the Plain have gotten more refined, more urgent, but also, as had not happened before, the description(s) of the Plain began to annoy. The original descriptions were okay, or even good, but now for some time there has been an element of overselling when hearing about the Plain. People now talking about the Plain seem to be over-the-top. They talk about the Plain differently than those in the past. Back then it was simply described, talked about. Now it's built up as this oh-my-gosh, you-don't-know-what-you're-missing, you-won't-believe-it, your-life-will-change-drastically, etc. And the Plain is that--it actually was so for this adventurer who went across the bridge, yet those he talked to are/were so numbed by all the glitz they have been fed about the Plain for some time now, what he's saying is falling on deaf ears. Nothing seems to really dissuade these nonchalanters from their view.
2) snake oil. The villagers might also be simply rolling their eyes when they hear the description of the Great Plain. Yeah, yeah, been there, tasted that fruit once, know what you're talking about, I didn't think it was so great, yeah so what, not what it's cracked up to be, embraced it long ago when facing some stuff and it didn't turn out as I'd been told it would, you only want my money, doing fine without it, been hoodwinked enough times already, got burned by a/some previous snake oil salesman(men), etc....
The Plain is different from the darkness of the jungle. Vastly and richly so.
What is the villager to do? There's resistance. There's obstinance. There's false impressions. There's straight up lies being told. There's a lot going on...
There's fear of heights, there's pain when the light hits the retinas, there's doubt about the whole idea. Yes, yes.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet, the torch continues to burn. What will it ask the man to do?
We'll have to see. The rest of the story hasn't been written.
Maybe a remnant chooses to follow.
"pain when the light hits the retinas"
ReplyDeletedude.