Man And His Monster

This is the story of a man who ate bread for as long as he needed to eat bread until he understood that what truly sustained him was not bread. It was something… more nourishing.

So this man went on a journey to find out what this something was all about. On his journey, he ran into a monster who was big and green and had two foreheads. And the monster decided to kill the man.

The man didn’t like to fight. So he had never practiced fighting on people – let alone big, green monsters. So instead of fighting, he looked into the monster’s eyes, and said, “What do you want, Mr. Monster?”

The monster was startled. Because he had never been asked what he wants by a person who was about to be his dinner. So the monster told the man the truth. “I want to eat you.”

“Why me?” the man asked. “There is so much food in the world. Why do you want to eat me. I am just finding my path, and I can be useful to the world in so many ways.”

The monster looked down at the man, and wondered why he preferred to eat people. If he could eat anything in the world, why eat a man with dreams and a conscience and stuff.

“I don’t know why,” the monster said. “Probably because you look like everyone else I’ve called food.”

“What do you call food?” the little man asked.

“Why do you ask so many questions?” the monster responded.

“I don’t know,” the man said. “I’ve always been that way.”

“Food is what I eat,” the monster said.

“That’s interesting,” the man said. He put his hand on his chin and appeared deep in thought. “Very interesting!”

“Why is it interesting?” the monster asked.

“Because if food is what you eat, you can eat anything and call it food.”

“So…”

“So why eat me?”

“Because I know what you taste like,” the monster said.

“But what if something else tastes better?” the man asked.

“I don’t know,” the monster said. “And I don’t care.”

“But if you ate corn, for instance, you’d spare me,” the man said.

“So,” the monster said, as he picked the little man up and dangled him over his mouth.

“So,” the man screamed, as he dangled over the monster’s mouth. “I can help you. I really can. I can do whatever you need. Cook. Clean. Find sheep. Or other men. Just please. Don’t. Eat. Me!”

In that moment another little man was transformed into a monster. Which is why when we look out at the world, we see so many monsters. They didn’t start out that way. They became monsters because they thought they were saving their lives.

But they weren’t saving their lives.

They were sacrificing their lives. So that we could know their story. The story of men who thought they had no other choice but to become monsters. But really, they just had to open their eyes and notice that what they thought was a monster. Was really just a…

It was whatever they were ready to see.

So…

When you are confronted with one monster or another, please remember two things. The first is that if you become a monster to save yourself, you haven’t saved yourself. The second is that monsters are real only for as long as you believe in them.

So…

You can stop believing in monsters and continue your journey. You have lots of interesting people and things and wisdom to discover. And it’s not just for your benefit. It’s for the benefit of a world full of people who once thought they were monsters.

But are slowly learning that they are people again.