Zen…

Odin crawled at the beginning of his life. The day he tried to stand, he stumbled and hit the lumpy ground of his father’s yard.

One day, he learned to walk. Except without his father’s hand, he cannot stand at all.

When Odin’s father died, Odin could not bury him. For he’d have to walk. He closed the door to his room and never opened it.

Odin got older and decided to try standing again. Every time he did, he’d fall, stumble on a rock or get pricked by the thorns in his father’s yard.

His neighbors would laugh and ask him “why would a man like you crawl like a monkey?” Odin would say “I cannot stand tall, let alone walk on my own. My father used to say I’m different, I guess this was what he meant”

He had hideous cracks on his palms and knees, from so many cuts and falls. For crawling is all he knew.

He eventually stopped trying, it’d be silly to continue falling.

Sometimes Odin would wonder why his father called him a god and all he saw, was a man who can never be associated with an immortal. He’s nothing but a simple man who lives and feeds from his father’s farm.

His father had taken his hand and walked him half his life in fear he might die young and he, Odin remained alive wondering what could’ve happened if he’d resisted his father’s strong hands.

*****

Odin, is a story about a boy who crawled his entire existence, when he could have walked. Even soared… Literally.

This story reveals history repeating itself time and time again.

We live in a world where parents do their “all”to secure a beautiful future for their kids—their plans affect their children’s marriages, career choices and even their lifestyles.

Odin (meaning a mythical god) would have had a more thrilling and fulfilled life, if he’d at least tried resisting the comfort his father had always provided him.

Instead, he lived an ordinary man with no purpose or future. He couldn’t even take care of his own father because, all he knew was how to be taken care of.

Parents don’t realize it’s one thing to guide a child, and another to not give him the chance to take risks, learn new things, unlearn some teachings or practices which doesn’t always match the child’s life purpose.

Most parents impose their belief systems and opinions on their kids. Some just want to continue to provide for their kids without thinking of newer ways to teach them survival.

In turn, the consequences follow; The parents deny themselves access to what better lives their kids could have provided for them and for themselves (it’s not just finances but in finding real love and happiness, which is the essence and purpose of living) and some of these kids live with resentments and regrets.

Odin is every child out there who is scared to step out of their comfort zone, parental consent or societal stereotypes, in fear of being labeled a rebellious child.