Lessons of the World
Lesson Number Five
Balance Part One
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Deep in the heart of the mysterious, wooded, and highly misunderstood landmass known as Mississippi, tucked between the alligator bayous of Louisiana and the hillbilly foothills of Alabama, an ancient sensei and his young, inexperienced student sat in awed silence as they viewed the massive forest that spread out before them.
Ancient Wen glanced sideways at his young apprentice, Joseph, and smirked. “Close your mouth, young Joseph. You’ll catch flies that way.”
Joseph’s mouth snapped shut faster than a steel spring mouse trap. “Yes, sensei,” he replied around his clenched teeth and lips. He scratched his neck and shifted uncomfortably on the hard, cold ground. Despite it being the middle of the afternoon, the grass was still wet with dew, and his butt was wet and clammy.
His attention, however, was focused not on his wet pants but on the strange forest that took up most the world in front of them. The best word to describe this forest would fall somewhere between odd and straight up weird. The trees were all the same height, but the thickness of their trunks varied greatly. They also lacked any semblance of bark, leaves, and limbs. In Joseph’s mind these trees were nothing more than a number of posts driven deep into the ground.
“Um, sensei,” Joseph said. “What is this ‘forest’?”
“Simply put, it’s the Forest of Balance,” Ancient Wen answered bluntly. He crossed his slender, hairy, old man legs underneath him and closed his dark eyes. “Young Joseph, my throat is in need of some refreshment please.”
“Coming right up, sensei,” Joseph said obediently.
The young apprentice opened up his red backpack and pulled out a tea cheap plastic tea cups and a small stainless steel thermos that was cool to the touch. Unscrewing the thermos’ cap, Joseph poured some cold tea into each of the tea cups. He handed one to his teacher who thanked him with a slight nod.
Joseph’s curiosity was literally bursting at the seams of his existence. His hand was unsteady as he drank his tea; his blue eyes strayed from the forest then to Ancient Wen and finally back to the mysterious forest.
Finally, Joseph couldn’t stand it anymore. “Sensei, what is the Forest of Balance?”
Ancient Wen sipped slowly at his tea. A sly smile was hidden by the cup’s rim. He smacked his lips appreciatively. “You know, young Joseph, this tea is really delicious,” Wen commented. “It’s amazing how they have put in the lemon’s essential essence into the tea without you actually seeing the lemon.” He sipped again. “Kudos to you, Community Coffee and Tea Company.”
“And it’s cheap, too, sensei. Two boxes for five dollars,” Joseph added. He stared into the forest, tea cup left forgotten in his massive hands. “Anyway, how about we discuss more on the Forest of Balance.”
Let’s just see how far I can push young Joseph before his curiosity makes him snap, Ancient Wen thought to himself. He morphed his growing grin into a line of blankness as he held out his tea cup. “More tea please, young Joseph.”
Joseph’s gaze snapped back to his sensei. “Oh. What was that, sensei?”
“More tea please.”
“Right. Right.”
Joseph topped of Wen’s tea cup then stowed the thermos away in his backpack. The two men sat in awkward silence, disturbed only by Ancient Wen slurping quietly from his tea cup quietly and Little Friend, their pet cardinal, rummaging around the grass, looking for anything that seemed edible- and to a hungry and growing bird, everything appeared edible.
“Sensei, can you tell me why we are here?” Joseph asked after a few uncomfortable minutes.
Ancient Wen cocked a snow white eyebrow at the question. “What do you mean, young Joseph? Why are we placed on this Earth? Or why we are sitting here on the grass in front of the Forest of Balance?”
“I’m talking about why we are here at the Forest of Balance!” exclaimed Joseph, aggravated curiosity spewing out of him like steam from a hot water geyser. “I mean, there has to be a good reason as to why we are here. Who would even name a forest the ‘Forest of Balance’ in the first place?”
“A good and natural student answers those kinds of questions through various means, young Joseph,” Ancient Wen replied coolly, resting his tea cup on his lap. His dark eyes were calm as he stared at Joseph “A simple study of the forest’s name –the Forest of Balance- would have easily told you we are here to learn something about balance and how it can be a Life Lesson.”
Joseph’s curious ferociousness quailed underneath his teacher’s gaze. He shifted his blue eyes away from the old man. “Yes, sensei. Sorry, sensei.”
Ancient Wen’s grin shattered his bland defense, and he laughed loudly. “You’re too much sometimes, young Joseph. Wipe that sad sack expression off of your face. It’ll give you wrinkles like me; you’re too young for wrinkles.”
“What?”’ Joseph asked, confused.
Wen rolled his eyes. “You can be incredibly dense at times, young Joseph.” He sipped from his tea cup. “Anyway, I guess it is a good trait of a student to ask questions about the obvious things in life. Who knows, maybe you’ll find something new in the mundane?”
Joseph looked at his sensei, still very wary of him after his little outburst. “Ri-ght…”
“You old fuddy duddy,” Ancient Wen said, finishing his tea. He held out his tea cup out to Joseph. “Grow a sense of humor, young Joseph. It’ll make life easier for yourself.”
“Yes, sensei,” Joseph replied lamely. He poured his teacher another cup of tea. There was a blank, slightly annoyed look on his face.
“Thank you, young Joseph,” Ancient Wen said. He slurped noisily at his tea, enjoying its lemony essence. “So, I believe you wanted to know something about the Forest of Balance? Then, I guess I shall explain a little bit about it.”
Joseph’s face brightened up considerably. “Okay. That sounds good, sensei.”
Ancient Wen nodded. “But first, I need some more tea to wet my whistle.”
Joseph grinned. “If you keep drinking tea like this you’ll this, you’ll wet something else too.” Both men shared a laugh.
“Alright. Let’s begin,” Ancient Wen said, setting down his tea cup. “The Forest of Balance is a forest but in the same sense of a regular forest. True, it is made of wood and trees like a natural forest. This forest did not actually grow here. In fact, it grew thousands of miles away in a far far away land called California and was brought here by massive tornado- an F6 I believe, the strongest ever recorded. The tornado planted the trees here, stripped of all their bark, leaves, and branches.”
“An F6 tornado?” Joseph said. “That must have been huge!”
Ancient Wen nodded slowly. “It was. And powerful. It tore a trail of destruction through nearly two thousand miles of the United States. I can’t even begin to describe the amount of people who were killed by it and its aftermath.”
“That must have been terrible to witness,” Joseph said, dumbfounded.
“It was, young Joseph,” Wen added. He closed his eyes and sighed quietly. “But, even the worst things in life have a silver lining somewhere to them.” He swept a hand towards the Forest of Balance. “Thus, the Forest of Balance was born. I can’t tell how many masters have brought their students and apprentices here to test their balance.”
Joseph cocked a brown eyebrow. “Balance? So Balance is the third Life Lesson, sensei?”
“Atta boy, young Joseph!” Ancient Wen said, clapping his hands together. “I see you are learning. Finally.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Joseph asked.
“Nothing.” Ancient Wen pulled a pack of red Camel cigarettes out of his white robe sleeve and tore off a paper book match. Striking the match on Joseph’s cheek, he lit the cigarette, giving it a few life-giving puffs. A few wisps of smoke curled up from its glowing tip. Wen dragged long and slow on his cigarette, the sweet scent of the tobacco smoke filling the surrounding air.
“So,” he said. “Onto your fourth Life Lesson, young Joseph, Balance.”
Joseph crossed his legs and rested his head on his hands. “Why do I need to know about balance, sensei? I’ve got pretty good balance anyways. What’s so special about it?”
Ancient Wen looked at Joseph curiously. “Young Joseph. Balance is an important part of everything in the world. There is a Balance to Nature. There is a Balance to Life. There is a Balance to the Perfect Tea, which has still eluded me to this day.”
“So this Balance stuff, how does it apply to me, sensei?” Joseph asked. He scratched his nose. All this Balance to Nature and Life and Perfect Tea was beginning to sound very confusing to him.
Ancient Wen blew two clouds of smoke out of his nose that circled around his head and picked up his bamboo pan hat high into the air before letting go of it. The dish-like hat gently floated back down to his head.
He looked at Joseph with a steady gaze. “You see? Balance, young Joseph. The smoke and air work as a team to lift my hat off of my head, and when the smoke vanishes, the air picks up the smoke’s slack and places the hat back upon my hand.” The old man slid his hands into his white robe sleeves rather smugly. “See? Balance.”
Joseph pursed his lips. “Okay. But how does Balance apply to me, sensei?”
“Ah. Always questing for the answers,” Ancient Wen said. He tapped the ash off of his cigarette. “How does Balance apply to young apprentices like you? Well, to further your Life Lessons with me, it has everything to do with you. In order to continue onto the Lessons of Nature, you must first master Balance; otherwise, it could wind up very bad for you, young Joseph.”
“Bad?” Joseph asked, suddenly scared.
“Very bad,” Wen replied with a nod.
Joseph bit his lip. “Oh.”
Ancient Wen took on final drag on his cigarette and flicked it away. “Now then, it’s time for you to test Balance.”
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