Hard Target

Dear lovely people,

Once upon a time in the celebrated State of Sangbroon, the people were revolted by their government’s bedeviled governance system. Every aspect of the communities therein where down, the population was poverty stricken, joblessness was on an all-time high, failing educational standards, an emasculating judicial system and the list continued.  As a matter of fact, the state had so disintegrated to the extent that its citizens collectively decided to stage a march against the obstinate regime. It was clear that everybody needed a change and so from a simple act of civil disobedience, things escalated to a dangerous civil strife.

Months and months into the struggle, there were no perceptible signs of victory, everybody was so buried in the fight that nobody realized they had been fighting from antagonistic camps. A thoughtful leader popularly called Boas of the largest factions decided to change strategy by aiming first to reunite his own very frictional faction before extending to the other factions and so he brought his belligerent team together in a gigantic room.

On the wall of the room was a big target he had prepared, and on a nearby table were hundreds of darts. Boas, told his team members to each draw a picture of someone that they disliked or someone who had made them really angry, and he would allow them to throw darts at the person's picture. The Team members were not word discretely.

The next in command – Titus, drew a picture of a notable man within their community who he considered to be a sell-out, a traitor to their cause, putting a great deal of detail into his drawing, even drawing pimples on the face. Another team member drew a picture of his team mate’s father and finally the entire team had pictures drawn and placed on the wall and all of them were pleased with the overall effect they had achieved.

In sets, the team members lined up and began throwing darts. Some of the members threw their darts with such force that their targets were ripping apart. Titus looked forward to his turn, and was filled with disappointment when his superior Boas, because of time limits, asked the entire team to return to their seats. As Titus sat thinking about how angry he was because he didn't have a chance to throw any darts at his target, Boas began removing the target from the wall.

Underneath the target was a huge poster on which was written Failure Mechanism. A hush fell over the room as each team member viewed the poster of Failure; holes and jagged marks covered the wordings. Boas again removed the poster to reveal the picture of Jesus and behold, the same holes and jagged marks covered His face, and His eyes were pierced. Even without words, each of them realized how much they had been working and aiming for nothing but failure. It downed on them that they had been focused on the enmity within them than with the common enemy. Most of the pictures on the wall were those of their own team members, members of the other warring factions and the community at large than those of the common enemy they had - the government of the state of Sangbroon.

This happens in everyday life. We take a formidable decision to change our situation or that in which we find ourselves and before long, we miss the target completely and start fighting a lost battle, we start fighting our own very selves than the common enemy. Focus, diligence, hindsight, determination, informed decision making and strategic thinking are the weapons to use when you hope to change your situation and when you need others to listen to your story.

Boas in his concluding statement said "In as much as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto Me" Matthew 25:40. No other words were necessary; the tears filled eyes of the team members focused only on the picture of Christ.