I read an interesting recent article in an online newspaper. It was written by Bill Keller, a regular writer for the New York Times. Keller wrote about a book of poetry which was published. Apparently the poetry is not all that good, but the story behind the poetry is wonderful. Hence, it is really a story about John Borling. Keller puts the story in its context when he says, “Borling’s poems were tapped out in code, letter by letter, on the walls of a wretched cell in Hanoi during his six and a half years as a prisoner of war.”
Maybe I am interested in this simply because the story comes from the period of my youth and concerns “my war.” Sadly it seems, every American generation has “their war.” My war happened to be the Vietnam War. I never was sent to Vietnam, so I cannot talk first hand about the experience. I certainly know quite a few people who went and I have shared vicariously some of their experiences.
I cannot imagine being in a prison camp anywhere for six years. That he survived and is sane today is a testament to two miracles. Let’s listen to some details of the story, as it will lead to some spiritual lessons.
I was fascinated by the code to write the poems. It was a code that could be shared in “words” that were spelled out by knocks on the wall. Keller gives us the code that Borling used:
1. A B C D E
2. F G H I J
3. L M N O P
4. Q R S T U
5. V W X Y Z
The code worked in this way. Let’s say you want to “write” the word “bad.” The letter “b” is line one, second letter. So that would be 1.2. The “a” is 1.1 and “d” is 1.4. This is simple, but clever. And apparently Borling and others committed these poems to memory and now they are in this book.
Borling came home in 1973. In 2004 he ran for the senate seat in Illinois, but was beaten soundly by Barak Obama! He has had other ventures in life that seemed like good ideas at the time, but for a variety of reasons came to no good end. I like how Keller concludes this part of the story. “Viewed one way, as Borling will be the first to tell you, his life is a series of defeats.” This should resonate with some of us. Not everyone I know would say life has been wonderful---with no setbacks. We may not have served time in Hanoi Hilton, but we have had our own prisons.
Apparently one of Borling’s favorite literary pieces is Albert Camus’ “Myth of Sisyphus.” I know this story. The Greek hero is condemned to roll a huge stone to the top of a mountain, only to quite make it, have it roll down and start all over again. Undaunted, Borling says, “My view is that our job is to get the rock up and over the hill. And once you do, the rock rolls down the other side, and what do you see? You see another hill. The essence of life is really just pushing rocks.” I laughed out loud!
I thought about it more and figure that he might be correct. Spiritually I would say that life is service. Service is like rolling the rock up the hill or mountain. The real question is not whether you succeed, but did you serve? That is what Jesus and all the other major religious figures ask us to do. Ask Mother Theresa in her Calcutta slum! Did she succeed or did she simply serve?
In some ways this is un-American. We always seem to want to win. We want success and anything less is a loser! But spirituality and service are measured in different ways. I am not sure Jesus felt like a winner or a success as he hung on a cross. For all intents and purposes, the Romans had won!
I think Borling and other spiritual sages are correct. The essence of life is really just pushing rocks. This gives me pause. What is my rock or my rocks? Am I pushing them? That is what God asks---just keep pushing the rocks.
Maybe I am interested in this simply because the story comes from the period of my youth and concerns “my war.” Sadly it seems, every American generation has “their war.” My war happened to be the Vietnam War. I never was sent to Vietnam, so I cannot talk first hand about the experience. I certainly know quite a few people who went and I have shared vicariously some of their experiences.
I cannot imagine being in a prison camp anywhere for six years. That he survived and is sane today is a testament to two miracles. Let’s listen to some details of the story, as it will lead to some spiritual lessons.
I was fascinated by the code to write the poems. It was a code that could be shared in “words” that were spelled out by knocks on the wall. Keller gives us the code that Borling used:
1. A B C D E
2. F G H I J
3. L M N O P
4. Q R S T U
5. V W X Y Z
The code worked in this way. Let’s say you want to “write” the word “bad.” The letter “b” is line one, second letter. So that would be 1.2. The “a” is 1.1 and “d” is 1.4. This is simple, but clever. And apparently Borling and others committed these poems to memory and now they are in this book.
Borling came home in 1973. In 2004 he ran for the senate seat in Illinois, but was beaten soundly by Barak Obama! He has had other ventures in life that seemed like good ideas at the time, but for a variety of reasons came to no good end. I like how Keller concludes this part of the story. “Viewed one way, as Borling will be the first to tell you, his life is a series of defeats.” This should resonate with some of us. Not everyone I know would say life has been wonderful---with no setbacks. We may not have served time in Hanoi Hilton, but we have had our own prisons.
Apparently one of Borling’s favorite literary pieces is Albert Camus’ “Myth of Sisyphus.” I know this story. The Greek hero is condemned to roll a huge stone to the top of a mountain, only to quite make it, have it roll down and start all over again. Undaunted, Borling says, “My view is that our job is to get the rock up and over the hill. And once you do, the rock rolls down the other side, and what do you see? You see another hill. The essence of life is really just pushing rocks.” I laughed out loud!
I thought about it more and figure that he might be correct. Spiritually I would say that life is service. Service is like rolling the rock up the hill or mountain. The real question is not whether you succeed, but did you serve? That is what Jesus and all the other major religious figures ask us to do. Ask Mother Theresa in her Calcutta slum! Did she succeed or did she simply serve?
In some ways this is un-American. We always seem to want to win. We want success and anything less is a loser! But spirituality and service are measured in different ways. I am not sure Jesus felt like a winner or a success as he hung on a cross. For all intents and purposes, the Romans had won!
I think Borling and other spiritual sages are correct. The essence of life is really just pushing rocks. This gives me pause. What is my rock or my rocks? Am I pushing them? That is what God asks---just keep pushing the rocks.
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