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Laura Hillenbrand, the author of “Seabiscuit” gave an interview sometime after her book was written, and had sailed to the top of the New York Times Best Seller List. I will never forget the book, or the interview.
I have long since
misplaced my copy of the book, and I haven’t been able to locate the portion of
the interview which contains the following account. As a result, it has been
necessary for me to rewrite a summary of her words, from memory, in order to
share the following story with you.
It seems that
when Laura Hillenbrand was a little girl, she happened to be at the neighborhood
pool one day; the same sort of activity I also used to enjoy. Well, after she
had spent some time in the pool, a thunderstorm arose, and the majority of the
children ran for cover, and settled onto a screened-in porch adjacent to the
pool.
As the kids sat
bare-legged on the floor, a well-meaning young man, a lifeguard, offered to
read the children a poem; not just any poem, but one of the longest, and most
poignant poems of all time, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” You can imagine
that many of the children opted to collect their things, and head off for home;
in spite of the light rain and thunder. But Laura, and a few of her young
companions remained, and were soon engrossed in the young man’s amazing tale.
The lifeguard
read stanza after stanza of the poem, and the more he read, the more
awe-inspiring were the words. The rain fell in droves now, and it seemed to
Laura that the crack of lightning, and the boom of thunder served to accent the
dark adjectives which so easily rolled off the young man’s lips.
You see, “The
Rime of the Ancient Mariner” recounts the fictional voyage of a couple hundred
unfortunate sailors on an old sailing ship. Not so different from the story of
Paul in the Book of Acts, the ancient vessel is overcome by an intense storm, but
in this case, there is significant loss
of life.
As the young
fellow finished reading the poem, and put down the book, the children seemed to
sit silently for a brief moment, as if to transcend the myriad of stanzas which
had so transfixed them. And then it was time to head home.
Laura picked up
her towel, and began the short walk to her house. In spite of the depth and
darkness of the subject matter, this young girl, who left shallow footprints on
that old dirt road which took her to her home, was suddenly very unlike the
child who had sat down cross-legged on that cold tile floor less than an hour
before.
Her very soul
thrilled within her to realize, even at this young age, what she wished to do
with her life; what she had to do with her life. As surely as the
account of lightning in the old poem mirrored the actual lightning which
enveloped the afternoon sky, Laura was filled to overflowing with insight. She
would become an author.
And the world
renown author commented at the end of this particular segment of the interview,
“I never knew the
name of that young man who so selflessly offered to read to a few young
children on a little porch by a neighborhood pool, but what he did for me that
day, (though of course he had no way of knowing), the time and topic he shared
with me that day, well, it made all the difference in my life.
“I would not have
been the same person I am today. My life would not have turned out as it has…
without the selfless contribution of that wonderful young man.”
by William McDonald, PhD
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