Chapter One: The Dreamer
The Road to Transformatia: A Love Story
Table of Contents
Almost everyone in Conformity is born with an innate desire to travel to Transformatia to give allegiance to the great King and to seek his blessing for a prosperous and fruitful life. It just seems to be part of their DNA.
Sadly, only a very few fulfill that desire.
Take, for instance, Average Joe. His friends and family call him A.J. for short.
In his early years, A.J.'s sense of adventure was so strong that he would create elaborate scenarios of success and glory where he marched in victory to the cheering masses in that fair land on the distant horizon.
He would bravely don his armor, his sword, and his shield and set out on a grand adventure to slay the menacing monster.
Cautiously approaching from downwind so the monster wouldn't sense his presence, he would inch ever so close.
The foul odor becomes all but unbearable. He would tremble. His adrenaline would be running high.
His focus would be on one thing only - slay the dragon, cut him to pieces, and stand upon his dead carcass waving the banner of victory.
As he grew up, A.J. would tell everyone of his dreams of becoming a great warrior. He would devise bold strategies to conquer the monster of Imaginaria called FEAR on his march to the land of Transformatia.
Then, as he returned victorious, he would go on to teach others how they, too, could defeat this formidable foe.
Scoffers
Most folks would simply laugh or make fun of him. To the vast majority in Conformity, there was no such thing as Transformatia or its King.
It was all an elaborate fairy tale they said. A dangerous dream. A false hope. Imaginaria and the monster who ruled there were just that – imaginary.
Those, like A.J., who truly believed, were considered to be a little “off kilter”. They were mocked and ridiculed as glory seekers or simply not living in reality.
Devious Tactics
But A.J. knew better.
The monster was cleverly devious. A master deceiver. He knew that people tend to believe doubters and would use those very same people to accomplish his purpose. They never suspected a thing.
Another one of the monster's unique abilities is to expertly mimic the voices of friends and family members.
At first, A.J. was startled to hear the voices of his own parents, his teachers, and friends speaking with a tone of concern and caution about doing things that were considered “beyond his station in life”.
Sometimes it would be warnings like, “No one in our family has ever done that” or “Don't set yourself up for disappointment”.
Some straight out told him that the land of Transformatia, with the gleaming beautiful City of Promise and The Gracious King, was all an elaborate lie, designed to sidetrack gullible dreamers from living a normal life of doing what has always been done.
Designed by who and for what reason, no one seemed to know or even care.
Pressure to Conform
“Since the beginning of time, we have done things this way”, he was told again and again.
As he grew older, A.J. began to notice that his dream of venturing into the land of Transformatia and telling others of his daring exploits had become dulled and tarnished. He would still set out on occasion, but he would definitely “play it safe”.
Was he beginning to conform to the way things have always been?
A.J. was puzzled by this. What was happening to him? Why was he letting the naysayers have an impact on his decisions?
The thought terrified him and sickened him.
Why didn't he have the same enthusiasm as before? He had lived in Conformity all of his life, and quite frankly, he was bored and discontented.
He knew that conforming to a life of doing what everyone has always done was not the path for him. But, how to overcome the monster called FEAR was something that he had not yet figured out.
So, he decided that now was the time to make an all-or-nothing effort to win the victory.
Will he succeed this time? Come back next week as the story unfolds …
Thank you, Cork. This is the story of my life.