Once upon a time, in a land not far away lived a very wise man. He led an exciting life, with amazing experiences, twists, and turns, lots of ups and downs and had reached the age of reflection. He had a single niece and she was the apple of his eye. She was still a toddler when he started gathering his legacy for her. Many might think that he collected gold and jewelry, wealth and riches, built palaces and bought lands. But he did no such things, however, he managed to provide her the most valuable of heritages: independence. You might wonder what does this mean and I am going to explain it.
From a young age, she spent a lot of time with her grandfather, the wise man. They were inseparable. She wanted to go everywhere with him, they played a lot and did all sorts of activities together. They had a lot of fun but it was so much more than that! The wise man told her stories and read poems, he played her music, taught her how to dance, they disassembled toys and stitched them back together, they took long walks and he told her stories from his life. When he was younger he had been a soldier and fought in battles, due to his bravery he soon got to lead troops and she enjoyed hearing him tell her all about his men and their accomplishments. They built bridges and kept people safe and this was fascinating to the little girl. She had a truly special bond with her grandfather. They loved each other enormously. The wise man kept a journal of the little girls’ life, ever since she was born and wrote down everything that happened in their lives. As she grew, the journal grew with her, soon reaching more volumes.
And every year on her birthday, the wise man recited a poem to her:
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!
If – Rudyard Kipling
She grew to love this poem and learned it by heart, which gave great joy to the wise man. And as she got older he’d love to hear her recite it for him, as did she… But little did she know at that time, that this poem was to be the foundation of his legacy to her. The years went by and she turned into a young woman while the wise man grew older and older. As time went by, he rejoiced every win she had and suffered alongside with her for all her failures but always kept reminding her never to stop learning and evolving.
One day the wise man got sick. He was old and had little time left, he told her. She was devastated and did not want to face that cruel reality. The wise man remained calm and brave and urged her never to forget their time together. If she remembered everything, he would still be around her. Soon after that, he passed away. It was ravaging and hard to face but when she missed him she turned to what he left her: the journals, the music, their recordings, the photos but most importantly the poem. She read it over and over again as the years passed.
She started her own family and wished he was there to see her as a bride or to hold his great-granddaughter’s hand when she was born. But he wasn’t … until one day, after she had kids of her own. She got to think about her life and her legacy, about the most precious things in her life and what she could pass on to her kids, about the meaning of her life on Earth. And then she realized! After more than 30 years reciting the poem as a mantra she finally made sense of everything!
Every day is a learning experience that makes us better if we are aware enough to care, everything we go through, every joy, sorrow, gift, loss, argument or caress can teach us something about ourselves and the world if we are conscious enough to understand. This was the wise man’s legacy – all he taught her and what they shared was meant to keep her aware of how everything bad or good is an opportunity to learn and be better. And once you realize this, you are in control of your life, your time and the outcomes, cause irrespective of what comes at you, you’ll be prepared to face and overcome them all!
This was the Legend and the Legacy of the Learning Sparker … and she became it!