The First Task

​The blog is back! If you celebrated the Holiday I sincerely hope you had a great time. As the New Year approaches here in the West, I wanted to leave you with some Game. A little something to think about.
 
I decided to switch things up a bit. I was in a story writing mood, so bear with me. And with those that have eyes to see and ears to hear you'll get even more out of this.
 
If you’re ready to dive in, then click below to continue…

​Once upon a time there was a young man named, Parke. In all regards Parke was an ordinary 13 year old. He grew up helping his Father fish and farm and on occasion he would spend time playing with his friends near the ravines not far from his home.
 
One day Parke’s Father came knocking on his bedroom door of the small wooden cabin his family called home. “Son!” his Father said, “Come out here we have to talk.”
 
Nearly unstartled, Parke’s eyes opened slowly then he looked drowsily around his bedroom. He noticed no light coming from his makeshift window covered with wooden shutters. This meant it was well before dawn. He rubbed his eyes and kicked off his bedcover then dragged himself to the bedroom door.
 
“Yes, Father?” Parke inquired standing near the closed bedroom door.
 
“Boy, I said come out here. Come to the main room,” Parke’s father said. His voice was deep and demanding; it cut through the bedroom door disturbing the silence of the room.
 
Parke dropped his head down and begrudgingly opened the door. He slowly made his way to the main room of the cabin. The main room was simple – two tables, a few dilapidated chairs and a small pit to cook near the center. On the Southern wall hung a few tools of the fishing trade. The room was lit only by a few candles which seemed to have been burning for hours. The buildup of wax drippings cooled on their stone holders in small brownish pools.
 
Parke’s father sat at the chair near the small square dining table and gestured for Parke to sit in the chair across from him. Parke sat down rubbing his eyes again. A strange sensation came over him and he suddenly felt a lump in his throat. This situation was unusual indeed. 'What did I do wrong now?' Parke thought to himself.
 
“Son, you are almost 14 years of age,” Parke's father began, “and is customary of our people, it is time for you to go on your first rite-of-passage. The first task, as you know, will be your first step toward adulthood.”
 
As those words left Parke’s father’s mouth, the lump in his throat seemed to grow. His heart pounding in his chest and pulsated in his eardrums.
 
“Waaah-naaa…,” Parke knew what he wanted to say but all that came out was gibberish. He composed himself, trying to clear his throat. He hated looking foolish in front of his Father.
 
“Boy, speak proper,” Parke’s father said.
 
Parke forced a smile and hoped that this time the right words would come out. “Well, Father… when do I go?”
 
‘Glad that came out right!’ thought Parke. Well nearly right, the words were slightly shaky and laced with apprehension.
 
Parke’s father pointed to the front door of the cabin, “Immediately son,” he said plainly.
 
“But fa - - ther,” the words were still not coming together but Parke pushed on, “what do --- to do? I mean… what do I need to do?”
 
“It is simple. You will travel from here to the City of Vese. Outside of the door you will find a bag filled with food and a couple of water pouches. Get dressed and leave before dawn. You know the way?”
 
Parke’s mind raced. He had heard of Vese before. He only knew it was to the East. Far, far, far to the East. Without a proper mount he heard the journey could take up to six months by foot. Parke’s heart beat even faster, flashes of heat came over his face and beads of sweat formed above his brow. He looked down in a daze as fear washed over him. He knew this day would come eventually. Every boy in his village was given a series of three tasks. At least two tasks had to be successfully conquered before a boy was considered a man by the village elders. But he had never heard of anyone – not one other person ever having to travel so far alone. Why him?

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​In his confused daze, Parke had not realized that his Father had stood up and left the table. It was his father’s voice that snapped him back to the present moment.
 
“You must leave now or you’ll fail this task before you even begin. Dawn is coming very quickly my son.”

There was a long pause, silence filled the air. "Your mother and I love you," Parke's father said. The next few sounds Parke heard were footsteps and the opening and closing of a door.

Parke sat in the main room completely alone. Silence quickly filled the room. Questions of, ‘how’ and ‘why’ danced in his mind – a whirling vortex of confusion, fear, doubt and even anger. Why did he have to be the first to travel so far? And all alone at that? Who made the decision that this should be his first task? It all made no sense.
 
Despite the ramblings in his head, and the pounding in his chest, Parke stood up. Still slightly in a daze but fueled by anger Parke dressed himself in his best clothes and made his way outside. He snatched up the small bag near the front door that his father had told him about. He resolved that he could not fail his first task. His family would be disgraced; he would be disgraced! Images of his friends laughing at him for years to come clouded his vision. Parke did his best to push those thoughts out of his mind. This was a test of courage and bravery after all, right?
 
Parke could see a small sliver of light line the horizon as dawn approached. He threw the sack over his shoulder holding it by the strap and made his way through his village to the open-roads…
 
Rest of the story short, Parke failed his task. He never made it to the City of Vese. He returned home over a year later. Older and a little wiser.
 
How did Parke fail? 2 main reasons:
 
(1) Parke had a destination in mind, the City of Vese. He knew that the City was to the East; but that’s all. He never took the time to figure out what would be the best route to take. In other words, he didn’t have a “road-map” that could help him get step-by-step to his destination.
 
It’s extremely important to know WHERE you’re going, it’s important to have a goal, but how often do we consider WHAT is going to help us actually get there?
 
(2) Parke’s journey took many twists and turns like we all experience in our personal lives. When Parke came to a crossroads, a place where he had to make a decision which direction to take next, he would either sit and ponder over the decision for hours (sometimes an entire day); or he would just choose a direction that he assumed would continue taking him Eastward.

When Parke realized that the direction he choose was taking him in the wrong direction he had to back-track all the way to his original starting point and take a new direction.
 
Picture it… you’re headed in 1 direction for months (or even years) of your life, just to realize you’re headed in the wrong direction! A lot of time, energy and resources were spent – much of which you can’t get back.

But guess what? Let’s say you spent 6 months working toward something (or JUST THINKING about working towards something) and then you decide to go in a completely different direction. Most people go back to their "starting point" (comfort zone) before moving forward again.
 
So, that’s 6 months going 1 way, then stopping and turning around to go back to where you started. So that could more months wasted right there. You’ve just wasted many months of your life. Honesty, not entirely wasted if you learned something in the process, but none-the-less that same time could have been placed into something much more productive.
 
In the Game we say that you should have a Purpose in life. Something so grand and meaningful to you that it’s something you would be willing to die for. This shakes a lot of people up because they don’t think that way about their lives (generally speaking). Life shouldn’t only be hard times, frustrations, worries, troubles and struggling. You should want more than that for yourself and the people you love.

How committed are you to the direction you want to take your life in for the New Year? Be back at you soon...

Another short break - The blog will return Wednesday, January 13th 2016.

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