Book 79 - A Year of Magical Learning

Reflection Title - The Origin of an Epic Quest is Always Pain

Book - Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathon Safran Foer

Book Description: Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close is a 2005 novel by Jonathan Safran Foer. Nine-year-old Oskar Schell has embarked on an urgent, secret mission that will take him through the five boroughs of New York. His goal is to find the lock that matches a mysterious key that belonged to his father, who died in the World Trade Center on the morning of September 11. This seemingly impossible task will bring Oskar into contact with survivors of all sorts on an exhilarating, affecting, often hilarious, and ultimately healing journey.

Reflection:

Oskar and I are very similar. I may be 37 and he may be 9, but we are living the same life right now.

Let me explain...

Just like Oskar, who is on a quest to find the lock to his key and stay connected with his father after losing him, I'm on a quest to stay connected with my daughter who I tragically lost in an unexpected traumatic event. That is what this Year of Magical Learning really is at its core...it's a quest. It's a quest that began in tragedy, pain, and suffering. It's a quest I never thought I'd be on and didn't ever want to be on. I'm searching for answers, reasons, and understanding to make sense of this crazy world and to stay connected to my precious tiny angel, Emilia, who I miss so much every single day. I don't know what I'll find, but I know that the search helps me to stay connected with my daughter, and that makes life a tiny bit more bearable.

Both Oskar and my quest's may have begun in a lot of pain, but today it is actually a source of a lot of joy and happiness. It gets us out into the world and exploring new things we've never cared to learn about before. It brings us to new people that neither of us never would have met. It helps us to find answers to why this world works the way that it does and dream of new ways to change it. It allows us to share our loved one's stories with so many more people who never had the chance to know them and understand how amazing they were and the beautiful lives they lived. It help us to think about them every single day and pretend like we are doing this quest together.

I think if you looked at all the greatest's quests in the history of mankind, you will find pain and trauma as the catalyst. I'm convinced of that at this point in my own journey. There is nothing in this world that would have made me do what I'm doing right now other than immense pain. If you could distill happiness down into its purest form and take it as a drug, there is no amount you could give me that would compel me to move forward with each next step that is necessary to take this quest that pain can provide. Real why's that force you to act and go on an epic quest will never be found in happiness, sadly they are always forged in pain. However, it isn't all bad news. Pain may suck, but it is the essential ingredient to kick start epic quests that ultimately are what push the world forward and make it better for everyone.

That is the legacy of our lost loved ones. They pain of losing them has the ability to change the course of humanity. That has to be true!!! I refuse to believe I lost my daughter for any purpose less then changing the course of human history as we know it. That is the power of pain.

Question: How can you harness your pain to propel you forward?

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Links:

What is The Year of Magical Learning? An Introduction

YOML Podcast Discussion - Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

YOML Bookstore - Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer