After my last post I was asked if I am trying to change the Mormon Church or the country. The truth is it would be ludicrous, and obscenely narcissistic, of me to think I could change either one.
Many years ago I was told the following story: There was once a King who decided to hold a contest. He gathered everyone in his kingdom together at a certain place on a certain road that led to his castle and announced that he would give a great prize to the person who traveled the road the best.
Each person tried to out do the next in creativity, strength and agility – dancing, spinning, walking on their hands, cart wheeling and hand springing… They created outrageous bicycles and other wheeled contraptions. They all did their very best - even when, one by one, they came upon a large pile of dirt and rocks in the middle of the road that they had to stop and climb over.
As every person reached the castle the King asked them how their journey down the road had been. And every person answered the same way – it was great except for that annoying pile of rubble in the way.
The King threw a feast for all who had participated and as the celebration was coming to a close, in walked one lone straggler – a young man, tired and hungry, hours later than the rest. In his arms he carried a large wooden chest. The king asked him what had taken him so long and he apologized for being late, explained that there had been a pile of rubble in the road that he had stopped to clean up. He had found the chest under the rocks and had come to return it to its rightful owner.
The king stopped the festivities - announcing to the crowd that this young man had won the prize, a chest full of gold, because “He who travels the road best is the one who makes it better for those that come after him.”
That’s all I am trying to do – not because I think I am super special or am after any sort of prize but because I really believe that is how I am to live my life. All any of us can do is to share where we have been with others that are traveling on the same road and do our best to make the journey safer and better for them. If people don’t want to listen to what I have to say, or don’t want to be affected by things I have to share, then they absolutely don’t have to. There are millions of people whose life path is nowhere near mine. I’m just doing my best to ease the hearts of fellow travelers who feel the same pain I have felt and are climbing over the same obstacles I have – that’s all.
And, yes, I’m still committed to figuring out how to do this from a clown car rather than an army tank. Maybe we’ll have to settle for a polka dotted tank that shoots bubbles and sunflowers and chocolate kisses. And an occasional shot of Tequila...
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