footprints

Years ago, a friend of mine spoke with great admiration of a someone he'd met on a hike who was really tough. So tough that my friend remembered him hiking on through the sand though the blood was beginning to run out of his shoes.

At the time, I did not see what was so impressive about this. Such a person must have been ill-prepared or not maintaining themselves well. I thought poorly of the person in this story for not taking better care of himself and his important-for-hiking feet. I would not want to emulate someone who had let himself get into such a condition.

Over time, as I remembered the story, I felt myself align more and more with wanting to be like the person who trudged on despite the blood soaking out of his shoes. I wondered if this was a sign that my sense of values and situation management were beginning to lapse. I wondered if maybe I was feeling this way out of a sense of sympathy to a characteristic that my friend seemed to admire so much about this person.

But, I suppose that it isn't quite right to either admire or condemn someone for something like bleeding shoes. I certainly don't know the context of the story, and perhaps there was some unfortunate reason why things turned out that way. I hope I would not be walking in his shoes, but they are still his own shoes.


***

I read a folktale somehwhere about a chief of a tribe who was growing older. As he aged, a younger man, considering the chief to be old and weak, challenged him for leadership of the tribe. The chief acknowledge that perhaps he was no longer fit and they ought to subject themselves to competitions to determine who would be the best ruler. I forget exactly what the contests were, but one of them involved a test to see who could withstand fire longest. The chief just put his arm into the fire until his armhairs began to singe, then he pulled out his arm and quickly cooled it. The young challenger thrust his head into the fire to show that he was brave and strong. He kept his head in as his hairs burned off and his flesh began to blister. The people of the tribe cheered for him since he was winning all the contests by a great margin. There were several tests, and they all went like this. Finally, at the end, with everyone watching and calling for the leadership of the younger man, the chief addressed them all and recounted the results of the tests. In all of them, the chief admitted his defeat and that the young man was the victor. BUT, he said... is this the man that you want leading your tribe? The tests had taken their toll on the young man and his exertion and determination in them had left him burned, injured, weakened. The chief on the other hand, remained fit and sound. The people realized the sort of leadership that the young man offered was too rash and hot-tempered, too willing to expend great resources and force. And so, the accepted the continued, wizened leadership of the old chief.