“Understanding
True Love Is Often A Matter of Time…”
Editorial by Robert Kirwan
One
day recently I was going through my old year book from
Lively High School when I came across a photo of my
Grade 13 English Teacher. It brought back memories of
how everyone in our class hated this man. He was always
so demanding and hard on us at the time. It took an
enormous amount of work and effort to get a mark of 60
or 70% in his class.
As I
looked at his picture, I also recalled that there have
been many times in my life when I thought back to those
days in that Grade 13 English class and I realized that
this man taught me a lot more than how to read and
write. He taught me that I could achieve far more than I
thought I was capable of through hard work and self
discipline. I didn’t realize it at the time, but he
was actually doing me a favour and was really acting out
of love for all of us in the class.
He knew what we would need in order to compete in
the world that lay ahead of us. And he forced us to
reach beyond ourselves in order to come close to our
true potential.
Whenever
I read the following story, I think about my old Grade
13 English teacher. In fact, I think I will dedicate
this editorial to all the former students of mine who
thought I was being too hard on them when I demanded a
level of excellence of which they thought they were
incapable.
Once
upon a time there was an island where all the feelings
lived; happiness, sadness, knowledge, and all the
others, including love. One day it was announced to all
of the feelings that the island was going to sink to the
bottom of the ocean, so all of the feelings prepared
their boats to leave. Love was the only one that stayed.
She wanted to preserve the island paradise until the
last possible moment. When the island was almost totally
under, Love decided it was time to leave. She began
looking for someone to ask for help.
Just
then Richness was passing by in a grand boat. Love
asked, "Richness, can I come with you on your
boat?" Richness answered, “I’m sorry, but there
is a lot of silver and gold on my boat and there would
be no room for you anywhere."
Then
Love decided to ask Vanity for help who was passing in a
beautiful vessel. Love cried out, "Vanity, help me
please." "I
can't help you", Vanity said, “You are all wet
and will damage my beautiful boat."
Next,
Love saw Sadness passing by. Love said, “Sadness,
please let me go with you." Sadness
answered, "Love, I'm sorry, but, I just need to be
alone now."
Then,
Love saw Happiness. Love cried out, " Happiness,
please take me with you." But
Happiness was so overjoyed that he didn't hear Love
calling to him. Love began to cry.
Then,
she heard a voice say, "Come Love, I will take you
with me." It was an older person. Love felt so
blessed and grateful that she forgot to ask the elder
his name. When they arrived on land the elder went on
his way.
Love
realized how much she owed the elder. Love then found
Knowledge and asked, "Who was that elder person who
helped me?"
"It
was Time", Knowledge answered.
"But
why did Time help me when no one else would?” Love
asked.
Knowledge
smiled and with deep wisdom and sincerity, answered,
"Because only Time is capable of understanding how
great Love is."
Isn’t
this so true?
Most of us, at some point in our life,
have looked back and understood that we were actually
treated with great love and compassion by people who, at
the time, seemed to be anything but loving. The teacher
in elementary school who was so hard on you and with
whom you were always getting into trouble; a parent who
would never let you stay out as late as your friends; a
coach who was always on your case to try harder; or,
even a Grade 13 English teacher.
We
have all encountered many people who demonstrate their
love in different, strange ways which are disguised
until time takes away that disguise.
Sometimes the people who give in to all of your
demands, flood you with lavish gifts and money, and let
you do whatever you want do not really love you at all
but are merely responding for some ulterior motive.
Often
times the people who seem to be the hardest and most
demanding on you are the ones who really, truly love you
with all of their heart.
All too often, it takes TIME
for us to understand how great that Love really was.
Have
a good week!
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