The best stories start with once upon a time and end happy. There is something really good, it gets ruined by the villain, the hero finds he is more than he thought, there is epic struggle, good prevails and the romance becomes a ride into the sunset.
Oh if it were only as Disney makes us hope… We all know though don’t we, we know something has been lost? Something is not quite right. It’s like trying to eat delicious food with a Novocain numbed mouth or smelling a flower with a mucus hampered nose. We know it should be better than it is. It seems to be right in front of us but – it is out of reach. The harder we try, the more risk there is of a throat full of snot or a bitten tongue.
Maybe everything is not right. There is a yearning in our hearts for the coming happy ending to last longer, for the taste to be richer and the smell to be sweeter. We wish for it even as we doubt that it is coming at all. For myself, when it arrives, it isn’t what I hoped for and I want immediately whatever I hope comes next. I am unsatisfied. Am I alone? Don’t we all, if we are honest, struggle against what we perceive as reality? Shouldn’t it be better? Really, are there just five or seven or ten steps to make everything work right? Do those books for “Dummies” really provide the answers? I don’t think so. I hope not, or I’m dumber and lonelier than I thought.
I think there is more going on. Look behind you. Look inside yourself. It matters. It all matters. Just not the way we want right now. It does matter the way we hope – but it is a hope fulfilled in an infinitely different and more powerful way. It is hope deferred. It is a real hope that lives from a much more powerful place than the obvious. When you look around and inside, look for the small story, the one that won’t make it to TV. Look for the stories that seem insignificant and foolish. Follow those.
Within them are little skirmishes that teach us to talk and end in friendship. There are losses and victories that shape our minds, our bodies and our identities with wisdom, scars, strength, humility and glory. Relationships and families and communities grow grain by grain and solidify with the right mix of conflict, love and forgiveness to form bricks and mortar that last for eternity. Neighbors share fences; classmates learn together and walk home every day. The paper is delivered; coffee, sandwiches and beer are shared at table. Gossip, understanding, healing and tragedy mix to make a one-of-a-kind recipe for life itself.
These little connections and investments are so hard to notice they can hardly be described. Their power and significance is overlooked because we go too fast. They are the lost stories, the forgotten tales. As they link together with what came before, what comes after and all the lives around that are changed in seemingly insignificant ways, the small stories are what changes the world. Those are foundations, the walls and windows of the places we live. Look very close, feel the texture, smell the brick. It is our history and our future. It is our now. It is our Battle Ground.
