A Story 

This tale takes place back in the days when men were God fearing and sought absolution for their crimes from Rabbis and other such intermediaries…

…And so it was that two men found themselves receiving a punishment for a crime they had committed: only after they crossed the ravine that lay on the towns edge, on a tight rope, would they be absolved and their place in heaven restored.

The first man, he looked at the rope and then, stepping lightly onto it, walks over the ravine, arms outstretched, until he finds himself at the other side.

There he stood and calls to his friend, "come, come…"

 

His friend, he looks at the rope and the ravine and the distance and with fear tries to begin - he puts a toe to the rope, it shakes - he pulls his toe back.

"Come, come, it is fine…you’ll be fine".

Again he tries - he places his foot onto the rope - and again he quickly pulls it back onto firm ground…

…And so he stands stuck looking across the ravine to his friend who has already made the journey.

Striken, he shouts back "I can’t…I can’t…

 

– And so his friend, the first man, navigates the path back around the ravine to where his friend stands stuck –

 

"Tell me, tell me, how did you do it so easily? How…?

 

And his friend, the one who has completed the tasks pauses for a moment and then says:

 

"All I can say is this. I believe that we are given what we can handle and therefore this is what I needed to do  - and it doesn’t matter, I must just do it…

So I got on.

 

And whenever I felt myself going a little bit too much to the right, I went a little to the left.

And whenever I felt myself going a little bit too much to the left, I went to the right.

 

And suddenly I found myself on the other side…" 

 

 

 

 

Sources

Story Source: This is my version of a story passed on to me orally by Claire Jankelson while exchanging Chassidic Stories - I do not yet have the original source (will email Claire) so though it may be from an authentic root it no doubt contains my own ‘fiction’…still it feels right to tell it this way and I love telling it with body movements and it does seem to work for people when I tell it to them.

…feel free to take it and use it. Please note: I have tried to write it the way I speak it and am not completely satisfied with the effort - writing tends to render oral stories a little differently…well liike any medium exchange, there is a little morphing -  though perhaps I should start making little recordings?

Image Source: (c) Harold’s Planet 

Title Source: for those unfamiliar with this post’s title - is taken from Dr. Seuss’s Oh The Places You’ll Go - a must read for all adults!

This entry was posted on Monday, July 9th, 2007 at 3:51 pm and is filed under action, art, change, children's books, stories, walk. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.