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Kevin A. Parido

The power of the call

I just listened to Call of the Wild by Jack London.

A few reflections:

  1. If you are a son or a father or brother, pick up a copy of this book – NOW.  It tells a gripping and fast moving story of a domesticated dog named Buck that becomes deeply aware of his limits and his freedom in a journey into the wild.  I have done a bit of reading on how men develop and the journey which they travel to manhood – this book is a great portrait of this movement/trajectory.    (I bought the book from Audible for 99 cents or on Amazon for $3.00 here http://amzn.to/2r1zvfJ)

  2. This book hits on something that supersedes words.  I found myself deeply enthralled in this reading.  London narrates the inner dialogue of Buck.  Again, I know this sounds weird, but once you get a few pages in, you are caught up in the story and soul of Buck.  London writes well and seems to be in touch with the heart beat of humanity.

  3. The call of the wild was thick on Buck.   It came through an adventure and a journey.   It came through pain.  It came through community.  It came through both good and bad people he encountered.  It came in leadership.  He could not escape the call.  Here are a couple of quotes that were particularly meaningful to me:

-But especially he loved to run in the dim twilight of the summer midnights, listening to the subdued and sleepy murmurs of the forest, reading signs and sounds as man may read a book, and seeking for the mysterious something, that called—called, waking or sleeping, at all times, for him to come. (page 74)

-On the opposite slope of the watershed they came down into a level country where were great stretches of forest and many streams, and through these great stretches they ran steadily, hour after hour, the sun rising higher and the day growing warmer. Buck was wildly glad. He knew he was at last answering the call, running by the side of his wood brother toward the place from where the call surely came. Old memories were coming upon him fast, and he was stirring to them as of old he stirred to the realities of which they were the shadows. He had done this thing before, somewhere in that other and dimly remembered world, and he was doing it again, now, running free in the open, the unpacked earth underfoot, the wide sky overhead.  Page 75-76

This all leads me to these questions:  

What has been calling out to me?  

What is in me that wants to come out and be made known?

Who is calling out to me?

Am I listening to or ignoring my call?

…. I invite you to read and ask the same questions

Vigilant in all things,

kp

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