Story of a Boy

It was the last Sunday of May, an important day for the young boys of Picaris. It was on this day that an annual ritual was performed where all young ones made their own roller board and took part in a race. A race that did not mean much to the older men of the town, but for the local boys it meant eternal glory.

It was a little cloudy today, quite strange for the month of May. Sundays in Picaris were usually bright. But still all young boys of the town had reached the rendezvous on time and could be seen as a group of bright eyed and talkative young buccaneers ready with their boards. Their fancy boards marked a resemblance to their own spirits, as all of them smiled while covertly looking at the next person’s board. It was serious competition after all. All kids were accompanied by their fathers who watched excitedly from the sidelines as their sons made preparations for the showdown.

In all this excitement no one noticed a kid who stood alone quietly observing his own board, which looked like a piece of trash in front of the other gleaming masterpieces. The poor fatherless child had made it himself out of wood from a local carpenter’s shop. His mother had told him that it was impossible for him to even compete in the race without a proper board. Yet he promised his mother that he would take part in the race. Winning did not matter to him. But now a feeling of disappointment and fear had gripped him as he watched the other kids wiping their boards clean for the final race. He had only finished making the board yesterday and did not get the time to test it once. What if he failed? What if the board broke apart in the middle of the race? It would be a disgrace not to even complete the race. People would laugh at him for being a fool to compete without a proper roller-board. And more importantly the other kids had their fathers looking after them, whereas he stood there alone and dejected.

He closed his eyes remembered his mother, he remembered the promise he had made to her. ”I will not fail. I will complete the race”, he said to himself. He remembered how his mother had told him that God was his father and that he was always looking after him. He prayed to God to give him the strength to complete the race. He wanted to have the courage to face everyone lest he failed, so he asked God for that too. The sky had started to clear. The clouds had begun to disappear.

Closing his eyes he gently took his position. The race was about to begin, and all participants arranged themselves neatly in a line, ready to roll. The final whistle blew and all the kids pushed their boards to top speed. Five minutes into the race, one could see that a lot of fancy boards had swayed off course, out of the race track and were thus disqualified. The young boy’s board rolled steadily towards the finish line. The sun beamed happily across the child’s happy face. He could see himself finishing the race. God had given him the strength he wanted. And thus after a few more second the boy not only completed the race, but also won it. He was awarded with a trophy and some sweets. Other kids looked surprisingly at the kid and realized the importance of keeping the design of a roller-board simple. The fancy ones they had, didn’t balance the weight properly and thus strayed off course. The boy took the trophy and walked home. He wanted to see the expression on his mother’s face when he walked into the house with that trophy in his hand. People saw him looking up at the sky as he walked past them. No one but the boy understood what had just passed.

Perhaps we spend too much of our time in asking God to help us rig the race. We want him to help us win while we should seek his grace in giving us strength. The other kids had wanted God to help them win, while the young kid asked for strength to bear the troubles that lay in his path. It is unimportant whether he won the race or not, what is important is that he believed in God and more importantly he had courage. And just to end the story.

“Do you want to win or do you want others to see you win?”

I shall be waiting for your response. I had read the story a long time back in the ‘The Speaking Tree’, just wanted to share it with you.