The Way of the One

The ONE

 There once stood a building, tall and proud, which had been designed and built by old time architects and builders upon a solid foundation.  It stood for many years, each of it’s constituent parts working with the others to remain a steadfast edifice, immune to the ravages of time and the inclemency of the weather.

Even when the worst storm ever seen hit the building, broke out all the windows, blew away many of the shingles, and damaged the inside terribly, the structure still stood and the bricks, windows, and shingles worked together to rebuild and restore the structure.  Even the chimney, which stood above all of them belching it’s orders with hot air and sooty smoke, worked to restore the building to its original glory.

There was one brick in the middle level of one of the walls who was proud of the little building and the work they had all done, but who longed for more.  The ONE wished they could all work together better to make the building stronger and more harmonious with the world around them.  Over the years, the bricks in this wall developed bad feelings toward the shingles. 

Some of the other bricks said things like, “Oh those spoiled shingles!  All they do is lay around up there in the sunshine while the rest of us do the work holding them up there!”

The ONE tried to explain to the other bricks that being a shingle is not so easy as they thought.  Protecting the building from the heat of the sun, the wet of the rain, the cold of the snow, and the battering of hail but the others heeded the ONE not and continued their assault upon the character of the shingles. 

Even the chimney joined the fray and ordered that all the shingles, whether they were actually attached to the roof or not, even if they were taking a well-deserved break or just standing by in case they were needed, must be out on the roof at all times.

The chimney said this was because they were all part of the building and none of the other parts of the edifice got to take breaks like those lazy shingles.  The bricks in that wall agreed and chanted, “Work those shingles!  Work those shingles!”

Finally, the hostility in that wall toward the shingles became too much of a burden on the heart of the ONE so when chief of the windows left to join another structure, the ONE asked to take over the position.  The ONE had always been attracted to the LIGHT and thought, as the leader of the WINDOWS, the ONE could both gather and cast more light upon the building.

As time passed, the ONE found being a WINDOW to be very enjoyable indeed as casting (or reflecting) light upon the other parts of the building was rewarding and heartwarming.  The bricks, shingles, and the other windows found also that the WAY of the ONE and the PATH the ONE followed made their lives better in many ways and soon found themselves trying to emulate the WAY of the one.

And their lives became better as well.

While there were still a few stubborn bricks, shingles, windows, and even the chimney who did not see the WAY, the WAY of the ONE continued to grow as more and more parts of the building became happy in so doing.  And so it went with harmony and good feeling growing among the sundry parts of which the edifice was composed, ’til one day, the constituent parts of the structure decided to write a memo and send it to the ONE.  It was short and direct:

         TO:    The Chief Window

     FROM:    The parts of the BUILDING

SUBJECT:    Our Thanks

Thank you for the LIGHT!