A CHEROKEE LEGEND

I am indebted to Peter and Elizabeth O'Donoghue for this piece.

Peter is originally from Limerick but now resides

in the U.S. with his wife Elizabeth.

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OUR RITE OF PASSAGE

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Do you know the legend of the Cherokee Indian youth's rite of passage?
His father takes him into the forest, blindfolds him and leaves him alone.
He is required to sit on a tree stump the whole night and not remove the
blindfold until the rays of the morning sun shine through it. He cannot cry
out for help to anyone. Once he survives the night, he is a MAN.
He cannot tell the other boys of this experience because each lad must
come into manhood on his own.
The boy is naturally terrified. He can hear all kinds of noises.
Wild beasts must surely be all around him. Maybe even some human might do him harm.
The wind blew the grass and earth, and shook his stump, but he sat stoically,
never removing the blindfold. It would be the only way he could become a man!
Finally, after a horrific night, the sun appeared and he removed his blindfold. It was then that he discovered his father sitting on the tree stump next to him. He had been at watch the entire night, protecting his son from harm.
We, too, are never alone. Even when we don't know it, our Heavenly
Father is watching over us, sitting on the stump beside us. When trouble
comes, all we have to do is reach out to Him.