Selfless and Heartless Pursuits
stories about 4 animals ,birds and the moon for the reflection of families, children and students
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“Selfless and Heartless Pursuits” “Selfless and Heartless Pursuits” consists of four morale fables from Africa whose characters are animals, the birds and moon impersonating human beings from different backgrounds and all walks of life. They include the Tortoise, Elephant, Hippopotamus, Monkey, Lion King , Kite, Hawk and the Moon who are bound together by the same fate amid the abundant endowments of the earth. Yet, the tension between selfless and heartless pursuits reminds us that we have to continually be communicating effectively through having a healthy conversation and dialogue with one another in order to listen and also cultivate selfless love, which is the light that shines from within us as we should gravitate towards overcoming the darkness of bullying, abuse, violation and oppression and injustice in our midst. This story has four chapters and each chapter summarizes the story with some factual accounts to facilitate a deeper understanding of the characters and their roles in the story. The first chapter is “The King of the Jungle falls into his own trap”. The Lion King stumbles and falls into a hole in the forest and becomes desperate but when he is rescued by the Monkey, he vowed he would kill him for food. This sudden twist of events let to an intriguing and divine-like encounter with the third party, who is the Tortoise. The second chapter centers on “The Tortoise tricked the Birds and the Moon”. This chapter focuses on a visit to the Moon at the invitation and pleasure of the Moon on the occasion of his birthday party. The Tortoise was loaned with some feathers by the birds to fly along with them to the Moon but at the end of the party, on their return, the birds took back their feathers. For this reason the Tortoise was left behind following a valid grievance from the birds, which caused the Tortoise to be stranded in the Moon but how did he finally returned to the earth? The third chapter revolves around “The Elephant and the Kite at dagger’s drawn” in the forest. When the Elephant accidentally smashed the nest of the kite and destroyed her eggs, it throws off the Kite into a rage, which could be quenched but the Elephant took advantage of his size and bullied the Kite. Now, he is angry and plots a revenge The Fourth Chapter is about “ The Tug of War between the Elephant, Hippopotamus and the Tortoise”. However, the Tortoise did not physically face either the Elephant or the Hippopotamus in the tug of war and we will learn from this chapter his reason for requesting a tug of war. In the end the tortoise was victorious even though he appears to be less powerful physically. In a tug of war one would immediately think that the elephant and Hippopotamus would beat the small tortoise but did the tortoise trick them into a tug of war ? When I thought about writing these stories ,in my mind, I was thinking about my own humble ways through, which we should continue to break down barriers and build bridges across cultures but most importantly, to empower families, children, students, community leaders , religious leaders and public officials to reflect over the virtue of selfless love and the vice of heartless pursuit because every single deed or misdeed in this life has an outcome and depending on what is our motivation, the way we think and act ,affects us and others positively or negatively. These stories challenged me when I was in elementary school because I could not discern the wisdom and knowledge from them at that time. It was one of the most inspiring and entertaining moments of my elementary school life I spent with my grandparents who narrated these stories as a way of educating us orally to cultivate good manners and moral values. Also, and being wise or smart in the process of making personal decisions that affect our well being. I made up my mind to share some of these stories because later in life, I came to realize that these moral fables were enriching, entertaining, educative and inspiring as an invitation for us to treat one another with respect and dignity and above all to learn to live in peace and harmony with our neighbors regardless of our color, heritage, appearance, size, religious creed or beliefs. They were handed them to us by our grandparents in whose loving memories in our effort toward living in peace and harmony. “An eye for an eye”does not seem to be a good outcome even when there is a claim for justice. How well can one seek justice without vengeance? How do we draw the line? Some of these stories teach us about "our space and privacy” and also about our rights and obligations, and responsibility and accountability in our world of immense diversity. The powerful application of wisdom in problem solving by weak and unarmed ones also stands out in these stories. If you were threatened by a powerful figure in front of you, armed for that matter, what would you do in order to free yourself? Is there an alternative path to conflict resolution or sorting out our differences in accidental and tragic situations other than getting even and settling scores? Do we need to say “ I am sorry when we err? Can we forgive where forgiveness is called for? Does the ability to take ownership for our faults helpful in our growth and transformation in life? Does the theory of “one good turn deserves another” still applicable in our life today? As the debate about what a good and meaningful life is supposed to be is never ending, here are some resources, which could help us to watch our steps along the different paths of our walk through life and pursuit of the ultimate good! Sometimes life is plagued by problems and frustrations in our own small corners. When one takes a moment to think about one’s immediate environment, there is no doubt about what I am saying, what more of the complex network of diversity that envelopes us? I am always challenged by these stories and may be you will feel the same, too. It is my hope that you take a moment to explore these stories and enjoy the humor as well as learn from the wisdom and knowledge that they are intended for. Every single day of my life , these stories bring back good memories of fun and entertainment during the days I and my siblings spent with our grandparents. To be very realistic, every situation of conflict in this life has forced me to use these stories as a mirror for deep reflection and it seems quite obvious that many people are still making the same mistakes and getting into trouble because their heartless pursuits but, whichever path we choose in this life, we must remember, it may define us and our relationship with one another for a very longtime, which we must be mindful of our pursuits in life.
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About the Book
“Selfless and Heartless Pursuits” consists of four morale fables from Cameroon, Africa, whose characters are the animals, the birds and the moon impersonating human beings from all walks of life who are bound together by challenging circumstances. The tension between selfless and heartless pursuits reminds us that we need to cultivate a spirit of effective communication and selfless love which are the lights that shine within us as we work to overcome the darkness of bullying, abuse, violation, oppression and injustice in our societies. These moral fables are an invitation to us to treat one another with respect and dignity. More importantly, the fables challenge us to live in peace and harmony with our neighbors, because “an eye for an eye” may not be the best way to resolve a conflict. How well can one seek justice without vengeance? How do we draw the line between exacting justice so that it does not spill over into vengeance?
About the Author
Jonathan Awasom is a survivor of bullying and abuse. He found solace and healing after many years of bullying and abuse through moral fables his grandfather shared with him when he was in elementary school in Cameroon. The stories reminded him about never giving up but to stand tall in the face of any adversity and to fight back wisely, courageously, kindly and with a purpose. His motivation to advocate for a virtuous and free society stems from the injustice of the totalitarian political system, which obviously enabled abuse and exploitation of the downtrodden. He believes that the rule of law, a change of heart and mind set of people could go a long way towards solving some of these problems. He was born and raised in Mankon-Alabukam, Bamenda in the North West Region of Cameroon to his parents Grace and Samuel Awasom along with seven other siblings; three ladies and four guys. He came to the United States 12 years ago as a Religious Missionary through Presbyterian Homes and Services. He later filed for political asylum when it turned out that he was a victim of trafficking (abused) for the wrong reasons. Before he left Cameroon, he was being persecuted by the Synod Officials of the Presbyterian Church and the Cameroon totalitarian political establishment for his free speech, beliefs and ideas as a young visionary Youth Pastor and leader in the Church and community. He holds a BA in Theology from the Protestant Faculty of Theology, Yaoundé, Cameroon, an MA in Religion and Theology from United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities, MN, USA and currently, he is pursuing an MA in Law and Governance: Conflict Management and Peace Studies at the Montclair State University in New Jersey, USA. He was formerly a resident of Minnesota from 2000-2009 when he relocated to New Jersey and has been resident there since 2009. He was ordained as a Minister of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon in 1997 and when he wrote 100 theses to reform the church in 1999 with emphasis on social justice following his dissertation on "Ethics of Human Welfare" he was dismissed from the church for his vision, ideas and free speech but today his ideas are being implemented in the Church in Cameroon. While in a Presbyterian boarding school known as Presbyterian Secondary School Mankon( Pss Mankon) between 1983 and 1986, he was amongst many students bullied and abused by senior students and the Principal. Unfortunately, the abuse was enabled by the Principal who took school discipline to a whole new level as a personal weapon to unfairly target children of a peculiar background mostly those whose parents were considered less important .He claimed to be a disciplinarian but that was an excuse to conspire with children of the "corrupt" ruling class and powerful in society to abuse those of us whom they erroneously thought came from "less privileged" backgrounds but it was unacceptable.Even though our paths crossed in one of the presumed prestigious boarding schools in our society, the truth is bullying and abuse of girls by some boys was lurking and too rampant. When he began to suffer abuse, he decided to speak up and defended some of the victims especially female students to the extent, which he suffered retaliation with all sorts of name calling from the perpetrators. Yet, he neither bowed to the Principal nor to the senior students and any of the guys. He stood up for himself. He confronted them and also wrote protest letters on his behalf and other victims of bullying and abuse by the senior students! Bullying and abuse took a huge psychological toll on him to the point where he failed to make it to the next class whereas he started as a very bright student. Even though the perpetrators have never been held accountable since Cameroon society was primitive and did not pay attention to such ills , the fact is, he always put up a fight against bullying, abuse and injustice even if he knew winning was far fetched. In that way, he would protest against b