Jacob's Vision
At the end of the school day, the children came and sat on the flour sacks.
Jacob would sit across from the children, and they would
talk.
As Jacob told his stories,
he would from time to time shut his eyes. It was as if he was remembering what
to say, not by searching through his mind, but by remembering what he saw.
Somewhere, he had a perfect picture, and the words he spoke were a description
of this vision.
"What do you see
when you shut your eyes, Jacob?" asked a little
girl.
"Well," Jacob said, "once
upon a time there was a man who had a vision and began pursuing
it.
"Two others saw that the first
man had a vision and began following
him.
"In time, the children of
those who followed asked their parents to describe what they
saw.
"But what their parents
described appeared to be the coattails of the man in front of
them.
"When the children heard
this, they turned from their parents' vision, saying it was not worthy of
pursuit."
Jacob leaned toward the
little girl that had asked the
question.
"So what do we discover
from this story?"
The children
were quiet.
"I'll tell you," said
Jacob.
"We discover children who
deny what they have never
experienced.
"We discover parents
who believe in what they have never
experienced.
"And, form this, we
discover the question is not 'What do I see when I shut my eyes' but 'What do
you see when you open yours?'"
--Excerpt from Jacob the
Baker
by Noah ben Shea
