You be, Beloved,
Truly. You know not, I do.
One moment owns you.
—
A teacher said, “What’s the most important thing in your car?”
No one said anything but everyone had one’s answer popping around one’s head.
The teacher continued “How do you think about jack?”
Everyone laughed. One of them said, “Almost not functional.”
The teacher giggled and said, “Yes! Jack will work only in unexpected situation almost accidentally, might be never if there is no emergency. How do you feel if your existence in society is like a jack? And what will you do?”
No one said anything. Most of them felt denial, not wanting to be jack in a car.
The teacher smiled and said, “You know a jack is a jack because it is a jack. What a jack needs to do is being a good jack. A good jack is a jack that can function well. Function well when needed! Anytime needed! What if a jack feels desperate of being a jack just because the jack is never used? The jack will give up functioning. The jack may let itself corroded, lose its credibility and accountability. One day the car needs a new tire in the middle of nowhere, jack doesn’t function, it doesn’t do its job, it lets the car stranded nowhere until another car with a functional jack comes by….”
No voice….
The teacher said, “So whatever your function now in society, function well, perform your best, as that is some part of the true you. Everyone has one’s own moment. If you think you’ve been a jack in a car, don’t stop functioning because someday you might be needed and you alone are needed and that’s when you become a super hero. Or if you ever be a jack that is never used, at least someday the owner will say ‘I never use this jack but it is a super jack, I’m sure it functions well anytime I need it’. Ok, Jack?”
Everyone laughed, feeling relieved of having been a jack in different moment.
One student said, “What about if no one knows I’m a good jack because I never meet a moment?”
The teacher smiled and said, “So what? That no one knows we are good at something doesn’t mean we are not good. Why is jack mostly painted red?”
“To be easily found!”
“Yessssss!” Shouted the teacher. “Might not be the best answer but it can be one best answer to answer your friend’s question. Where is red? You still call it red without knowing why it is called red. You still call it red although you don’t realise the existence of red except painted on a jack in this context. You said jack is red so it can be easily found. No one knows what is actually red but all of you know that red is good in jack that functions only in emergency so when needed it is easily found….. That is red— a quality in you that is taken for granted because people think a jack is mostly painted red; only when people think deeply then the quality is a good quality! Don’t cover your red jack with other thing, it won’t be easily found anymore.”
“Like him!” A student pointed his finger to a friend in a red shirt sleeping in the classroom.
The teacher said, “Don’t wake him up. He is a jack in a good ride.”
Everyone laughed. The boy in the red shirt woke up and joined the cheer with his loudest laugher.
“He is a jack functioning well!“ said the teacher.
How beautiful the life of a jack is! 😁
(based on a conversation with a jack of all trades and other jacks who are waiting for the moment to appear)
rike jokanan 