What is strength? How can strength influence the world around us? Instinctively, everyone knows from a young age what strength feels like. It is a currency.
As a young boy, one grows up thinking that his father is the strongest man in the world, and in many ways he is. The boy has no idea of what other men are like, and so in his world only his father exists. As he gets older he starts to realize that his father is actually not the strongest man in the world, he may not even be the strongest man in their street. This stark contrast helps the boy to start realizing the nuance of strength and how it applies to the world around us.
The boy starts realizing that besides physical strength being the metric he used to judge power and authority, that there is strength that is not measurable.
Then there is another type of strength. Strength of character. The son of the single mother sees this earlier than the rest. He sees his mother toil away to raise him on her own, despite her own difficulties. To wear a smile when there is nothing in her world to smile about besides him there with her. He starts too understand (if he is receptive) that physical strength can only take you so far, the strength of your character takes you further. As great as this is, it is still only one aspect of strength. There is more.
Strength of wisdom. A boy spends time with his grandfather. He is forced to understand that the passage of time is slower with the removal of a generation. There is no rush, no feverishness. The boy understands that calming confidence and routine will carry him. The boy is taught that observing, patience and faith in his own personal journey will carry him forwards. The boy is fortunate to be with his old grandfather, for wisdom is only the blend of knowledge and experience. Something only those with plenty of experience can express.
If the boy is receptive he will be able to blend his strength, to free himself, be an example to those who are weaker and live a beautiful life.
Find freedom.
Life is what you make it.
