Читать книгу Hope’s Daughters - R. Wayne Willis - Страница 8

Most of us who have been knocked down a few times draw strength from some master story, a narrative that urges us to get up and walk on. Our “master” or “super” story might be a scene from a Rocky movie, or Robin Roberts fighting her cancer, or a grandparent handling bad news with courage, dignity, and grace.

A friend told me that his latest master story came from an elephant that Dereck and Beverly Joubert, award-winning filmmakers for National Geographic, captured on film in Botswana. One night the Jouberts watched a pride of eight lions attack and take down a fully grown elephant. While filming the lions chewing on the downed elephant’s back and legs, the Jouberts can be heard rooting for the elephant, “Come on, get up! Get up!” As she watched the elephant accept her fate, Beverly softly whispered this interpretation: “Death begins in the eyes. We’ve seen this so many times with animals when they give up hope.”1

Then a mighty miracle occurred. Suddenly the elephant began to swing her body, rocking back and forth. The downed elephant summoned from her depths a mighty surge of strength, enough to explode to her feet, shake off every one of the lions, and charge into the darkness. She said with her body and her whole being: “Enough! I don’t have to take this anymore!”

My friend’s new master story is really a universal play with four acts:

I. We get brought low.

II. Feeling alone and devoid of hope, we grovel and feel sorry for ourselves.

III. After a time, some voice from somewhere whispers: “Enough! Get off your pity-pot!”

IV. We stand up, dust ourselves off, lift our chins, set our jaws, face forward, and march on.

Happy New Year. Hope on!