- By Richard Bach
I have to say, Richard Bach is a poet who writes in prose! Whether
the concept of soul mates exists or not, is not something of a debate
for me, for even after reading such a splendid book, I dare to believe
that it can only be possible in fairy tales. Somewhere someone might or
might not be there, but the values projected in this book, though
bordering to be tad bit philosophical, challenges one to really look
into the core and bring that inner voice out and see where it takes you.
The novel left me in want of more though. I cannot help but feel that
the ending of it was too abrupt or perhaps, that is just me!
As
the story unravels, I felt that it was Richard Bach in the evolving,
through the help of Leslie Parrish. What started as a friendship,
through the lengthy chess games, and interesting conversations and the
yearning to spend quality time with each other, slowly evolves into
something much more than kinship. Though Richard envisages his soul mate
as someone who is a mirage of him, slowly realizes that Leslie Parrish
is a wonderful person, the sort of person for whom he waited his entire
life for. But, Richard Bach, has his share of problems in lowering his
defenses and surrendering his ideologies and letting the relation grow
into something more substantial than just friendship. And the book
depicts the struggle of Bach to overcome his selfishness and to give
himself to this wonderful person. Leslie Parish comes out as an
infallible person, who slowly nurtures Richard into choosing the path
that is enormously difficult to him, the path called commitment. And of
course, after that, it is about the journey the two together embark
upon, pushing past the known limits.
The letter she
wrote to Richard, when like all men, he too wasn’t ready for the long
term commitment, was simply fabulous. Here is an excerpt from that
letter:
“We have both had a vision of something
wonderful that awaits us. Yet we cannot get there from here. I am faced
with a solid wall of defenses and you have the need to build more and
still more. I long for the richness and fullness of further development,
and you will search for ways to avoid it as long as we're together.
Both of us are frustrated; you unable to go back, I unable to go
forward, in a constant state of struggle, with clouds and dark shadows
over the limited time you allow us.
To feel your constant resistance to me, to the growth of this something
wonderful, as if I and it were something horrible—to experience the
various forms the resistance takes, some of them cruel—often causes me
pain on one level or another.”
“Away and apart or together and apart, it is too unhappy. I am watching
me become a creature who cries a lot, a creature who even must cry a
lot, for it almost seems that pity is necessary before kindness is
possible. And I know I have not come this far in life to become
pitiful.”
“Richard, my precious friend, this is said softly, even ten¬derly and
lovingly. And the soft tones do not camouflage an underlying anger: they
are real. There are no accusa¬tions, no blames or faults. I am simply
trying to under¬stand, and to stop the pain. I am stating what I have
been forced to accept; that you and I are never going to have a
development, much less the glorious climactic expression of a
relationship grown to full blossom.
I have felt if anything in my life deserved departure from previously
established patterns, going beyond all known limitations, this
relationship did. I suppose I might be justified in feeling humiliated
about the lengths to which I have gone to make it work. Instead, I feel
proud of my¬self and glad to know I recognized the rare and lovely
opportunity we had while we had it, and gave all I could, in the purest
and highest sense, to preserve it.”
Those are few sentences I loved in that letter.
Any
relation requires compromise, but to compromise to the level where the
very essence of you is lost, is unnecessary hindrance to one’s growth.
No relation, however special it is, requires one to buckle over the
knees. And the discussion that follows this letter shows that Richard
has acknowledged the special person she is and is willing to give this
relation a try. And the book evolves to show how they stay together
through the tough times and learn to grow on each other, how they build
intimacy and finally about how they bring in a sense of completeness.
The novel brings in a ray of hope to everyone who reads it. It gives
wings to those hidden thoughts, the thoughts buried deep inside chester
drawers, whose keys are lost in the moment’s fury; those thoughts that
are buried deep within, on those sleepless nights with a promise to
never put oneself through the humiliation of unrealistic dreams of true
love! And Richard Bach does weave magic with the words and it is all the
more special, because, for once, it is not a knight in shining armour
rescuing a princess, but a princess saving the life of a struggling
knight.
Though it is ironic that the couple are no
longer married or lawfully wedded, it just makes the biography all the
more real and not a fairy tale. Love, surpasses many boundaries and a
wedlock is just a gesture to stake a claim, perhaps!!! But, what is more
important is that they experienced love and they experienced the joy of
living together and growing on each others strength. Isn’t that what
love is all about? To help outgrow one’s own self, through the
inspiration of your partner? Richard and Leslie Parrish, show the same,
in their journey across that bridge, with a promise that they would grow
together.
"We're the bridge across forever,
arching above the sea, adventuring for our pleasure, living mysteries
for the fun of it, choosing disasters triumphs challenges impossible
odds, testing ourselves over and again, learning love and love and
love!"
The book is worth the time and the effort :)
