Closing Pandora's Box

Some of you may remember Mr Bristol from one of my previous posts. Here’s another assembly of his that I’d like to share with you. It was a story this time and I’ll try and tell it as well as I can remember:

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He was a staunch believer in God and had been so for many years. Having enjoyed a rather well to do life, with little problems there was never a time when his faith was tested, that is until the flood hit. Nothing like it had ever been seen before. The tops of some buildings could be seen sticking out of the water gasping for air but others had been completely drowned. It had become submerged under water like the lost city of Atlantis, except it wasn’t quite lost yet. Those that lived in big houses or were able to access high buildings waited on rooftops for the rescue services. He was standing at the top of his house with many other people, men and women, boys and girls and waited. A raft came by. They asked him to get on but he refused, “My God will save me.” He continued to pray for his Lord to rescue him. A little while later a small boat came to them and those people that were unable to get onto the raft left the rooftop via the boat. Once again he was asked to join them but once again he replied, “My God will save me.” When the boat left, he started praying again. After some time had elapsed a helicopter came by. It had been scanning the area looking for any remaining survivors. The helicopter sent down a ladder and the pilot spoke, “We are running out of fuel and this will be our last trip so count this your lucky day.” But the man was waiting for his God to save him and refused to climb up into the helicopter. After waiting for some time and after pleading with the man to take the chance he had, the helicopter flew away back to safety. Again, the man began to pray and it continued to rain heavily. The God he was waiting for didn’t come down from the heavens and save him. The real God tried to help him 3 times, but he never realised and did not accept that help.

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People say we should only ask God for help. After all he is the Protector, the Sustainer, the Provider and the one who created us. I disagree with that. Yes we should pray for God to help us, but like the man in the flood, we shouldn’t expect Him to come down from the heavens and hand us a tenner to pay for the shoes we want to buy, or whisper in our ears when we need help with a question in an exam, or give us a shoulder on which to cry. He sends His angels, makes things happen, or puts an idea in the mind of another person who in turn becomes your angel.

Living in a materialistic world, people tend to give great precedence to clothes that can be replaced when ripped, to laptops that can be replaced when they break down or to cars that can be replaced when they stop working. One thing that we fail to remember the importance of is the people. The family that God chose for us and the family we chose for ourselves, our friends. Once they’re gone, they won’t be coming back. They are our angels that God specially gave to us with the duty to make us laugh when we are down, to steal chips off when we are hungry, to give us a shoulder on which to cry our sorrows and to hold our hand when we are lost.

You can have all the money in the world, but the richness of love, of friendship and of family is more valuable than all that. The value of angels cannot be estimated with pieces of paper and metal.

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Title: I have a dream – West Life

As my drought for words continues, I asked another of my lovely friends to write something for me. This time it was Max. After reading what she had written I’ve decided the ‘write whatever you want policy’ is not going to work. You’ve probably heard a lot about me in the last few posts and will hear more in the next part of the interview. So next time, there will be no writing about me. Anyway, without further ado, let me share with you Max’s piece:

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Dee Dee (My name for Nas) asked me to write a blog post about anything I wanted. I’m not much of a writer; I find it hard enough to write essays. The only “writing” that I probably do is texting (LOL) and rambling in my diary. But anyway, I said I would do it for him so here I go.

Firstly, I want to tell you why I call Nas ‘Dee De’. It all started when we met, about 5 years ago (crikey) through the world of MySpace. His screen name on msn was ‘Red Devil’, so I began calling him ‘Devil’ for ages. That is until I got really lazy of saying and typing Devil so it got cut down to a single letter, ‘D’. One day we were talking about Dexter the cartoon, and I wanted to name Nas after ‘Dee Dee’- Dexter’s sister! =P. And thus Nas came to be known as Dee Dee.

When Dee Dee said that I could write about ANYTHING, only one thing came into mind; the time when he helped me through the hardest part of my life. In my darkest hour, he was the only one I could turn to. Even though he was in the opposite side of the country, every word he said made such a big difference. I was ready to give up, give up on life, give up on the future that I now have and give up on everything for the sake of others. But Dee Dee showed me that I would never be happy and in turn the happiness of others would fade fast too. I was so low that the only solution I could think of was to disappear. Literally, disappear from this world. But he made me realise that would be selfish and made me think about the ones most dear to me, like my little brother and sister, my best friends but most importantly, ME. He made me love life again, find my happiness and gave me strength to stand up for myself. He pushed me to strive and pursue my future goals. He reminded me of who I should be, not who I could be if I gave up.

I owe Dee Dee my life. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be here today. Even though we are yet to meet in person, it does not make a difference to how true the friendship is. He is one of the few people who I would call a true, real, honest and genuine best friend. There have been ups and downs, but without the downs, it wouldn’t be real or honest. Having problems only helps to make you stronger as a person and gives a chance for you to learn and strive; just how Dee Dee once said to me.

If you are one of the few who have met and or know Dee Dee, you are as lucky as I am. He is one to love, cherish and keep close to your hearts.

I would like to finish by sharing a story with you that I read a few years ago, which has become tattooed onto my mind. I hope those of you that read it are able to learn something from it and also enjoy it:

The Emperor Moth & the Struggle

The emperor moth is the most majestic species among all the moths. It has wide wings spanning out majestically when it flies. Before it can become a full grown moth, it has to be a pupa in a cocoon. Now, the interesting fact about the moth’s cocoon is that the neck of the cocoon is very narrow. In order that that it becomes a moth, the pupa of the moth must squeeze its way out of the narrow neck.

One day a man found a cocoon of an emperor moth. He took it home so that he could watch the moth come out of the cocoon. He sat and watched the moth struggling to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could go no further. It just seemed to be stuck.

Then the man, in his perceived kindness decided to help the moth. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The moth was then able to emerge easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shrivelled wings. He expected that the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body which would contract in time. Neither happened! In fact, the little moth spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shrivelled wings. It was never able to fly. A few days later, it died.

What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the moth to get through the tiny opening was the way of forcing fluid from the body of the moth into its wings so that it could be ready for flight, once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon. Freedom and flight would only come after the struggle. By depriving the moth of a struggle, he deprived the emperor moth of health.

You see, the struggles of life, heartaches and pains are necessary if you want to be great. Instead of cursing them, understand them while you are experiencing them. They are part of the making of a man / woman.

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I’d like to thank Max for the extremely kind words, but more importantly for sharing such a beautiful and inspiring story from which we can all benefit. There are times when we all feel like the emperor moth, helpless, unable to breathe  and trapped with no way out, but with perseverance, struggle, and continued effort we can break free from our bondages and learn to fly. The last paragraph of the story sums it up rather nicely.

[This is a scheduled post]

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Title: Hey there Delilah – Plain White T’s
Picture of Dexter and Dee Dee taken from here
Story of the Emperor Moth taken from here