One day, Joseph decided he wanted to go on a bike ride outside the mansion. His father told his body guards to go with him and to keep him away from the homeless. They tried the best they could, but when Joseph was crossing the bridge on his way back to the mansion he saw a man, cold and sleeping under the bridge. He asked the body guard, "Is that man sick? Why do his clothes look like that and why is he sleeping down there?" The body guard, knowing he should not say anything, told Joseph, "No, that man is not sick. He is homeless. He has not had the good fortune that you have had throughout your life." Joseph, sad for the man under the bridge, went back home.
His father saw him sulking around the mansion and asked what was wrong. He told his father that he saw the homeless man outside of the mansion and is sad for his misfortune. He told his father that he felt bad that he had so much and others had so little. This was the first time Joseph thought about leaving his family and wealth to help other people. He told his father that he was thinking about becoming a priest and living a life of service. His father was sad and tried everything he could to make him stay.
Authors note: My story is based on the story First Encounter from The Life of Buddha. In this story Siddhartha sees a beggar for the first time after his father, the King, has been sheltering him in the palace. Siddhartha becomes very sad and his father is upset that this happened to him.
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| Oklahoma Capital |
Hi Kaylee,
ReplyDeleteI really like your story! Having Governor of Oklahoma in the plot is very interesting. While I was reading your story, it kind of made me think about the role of the governor. I think the governor should take care of the homeless and have some empathy, instead of shielding his introverted son from encounter. Overall, the homeless people are people, not street zombies. It’s amazing that Joseph felt compassion for the homeless, and your story resonates with the Life of Buddha very well. Thank you for a great post!
Hey Kaylee! I loved your story and it made me consider doing a story based on the First Encounter but with an environmental theme for my storybook. If you were to ever to expand this story, it would be perfect to use to raise awareness of some of the problems that the state of Oklahoma has by including different encounters with different people that symbolize the problems that this state is facing. Some people that I would possible include would be a laid off oil worker, a public school student, or a struggling farmer.
ReplyDeleteHey Kaylee,
ReplyDeleteI like the way you were able to modernize the First Encounter story into something that we could more easily put into perspective. It's pretty hard to walk in someone else's shoes, especially when the difference between our lives can be pretty vast. If I could make a suggestions, I think this story would benefit from some more detail about the different kinds of things Joseph took for granted that not many people had. This would create some character development for Joseph and help the reader feel more like Joseph does and really start to understand his empathy. All in all I think you have a solid narrative here!
Hi Kaylee! I enjoyed this story a good deal. After reading your author's note and understanding where the story came from, the beginning (which sounded a bit odd at first) made a lot more sense. I like that you took the story of someone who was so very selfless and applied it here in Oklahoma, where there is absolutely a need for similar people. It makes readers think about how they can see the suffering of others like he did and act to create change. Well done.
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