As a child I have
fond memories of spending my Sunday evenings at Miramar beach. And I have
fonder memories of playing in the children’s
park there. My favourite in the park was the fish shaped tunnel. I’d be fascinated by its large gaping mouth and a long tongue, serving
as an entrance to the tunnel. I’d struggle to climb onto it. Then I would make
believe that I was swallowed by the fish and had somehow managed to swim my way
to its stomach. There, lo behold! I’d find an exit from the fish. It was a rather
charming game for a 5-year old.
After a gap of many
years, I happened to visit that play area again with my nephew. As I entered
the fish through its mouth (for old times sake) I realised how small the mouth
had become and within a few steps I had reached its stomach and the exit. I
walked up and down the fish over and over again just to make sure it was the
same size I remembered it to be. As a child it had seemed so huge….the journey from its mouth to stomach had seemed endless and dark,
ridden with possible dangers (you can make imagine anything as a child can’t you?). And now…now it was well, boring and bereft of any
possibility of adventure.
‘Had the fish shrunk?’
I questioned myself. Then it hit me, I had grown.
We can use the
analogy of the fish and a 5-year old’s game to determine our attitude towards our own
problems. When we are first confronted by a problem, we face it tentatively and
probably with some sense of hope. As we get embroiled deeper and deeper into
our suffering we lose all sense of perspective and direction. Everything seems
dark and bleak, much like it would to a 5 year old in the middle of the fish’s stomach. We grope around and stumble through the dark days in hope
of finding light. We persevere through it relentlessly, because giving up would
mean being trapped in the fish’s stomach (or our suffering) forever. And then
suddenly one day we see the end of the tunnel; we are out of our troubled days,
bathed in the warm sunlight of our victory. Over a period of time, with this
repetitive process of facing problems and overcoming them, we grow as
individuals. We gain a sense of perspective and hope from our previous
struggles and subsequent victories. Suddenly, one fine day faced with the same
problem again, we feel much bigger. The problem doesn’t
seem daunting anymore. We feel we can handle it very well and move on in life.
Did the nature and
intensity of the problem change? Probably. Who can be sure of that? But you and
your ability to handle it definitely changed. You evolved and ‘grew up’.
Faced with a problem
next time, I am definitely going to remember the fish. I may not know my way
out of the dark days. I’ll probably stumble and fall through my
struggles; even feel overwhelmed on certain days. But I’ll
know in my heart that I will find my way out and when I do, I will have emerged
a stronger and more capable person.
