2.7
January 13, 2013

Pi & Richard Parker vs. Ayşe & Life. ~ Ayşe Ay

In the practice of surrender.

When I first met the word, “Surrender,” I thought that its concept was very easy.

I said to myself, “I can surrender.”

But I couldn’t do it for many years. I tried to change everything according to my beliefs and understanding. It didn’t happen. I just became angry and frustrated. Life went on as it was supposed to, and it still acts the same way.

As a child, Pi was raised as a Hindu; however, somehow he practices three religions: Islam, Christianity and Hinduism because he just wants to love God. His father has a zoo, and one day Pi wants to love the wildest animal in the zoo—a tiger called Richard Parker. That day, his father teaches him the lesson that you will never become friend with some living things.

Then, I was left alone with my life. I cried and yelled. I tried to tame my life, to take it under my control. I wanted to know everything about my future. It never tells me, and always surprises me. I gave my life orders like, “Happen this, happen that.” It never listened to me. I was in pain.

One day, Pi, his family and other animals embark on a Japanese sea freight to Canada. However, on the way the ship meets a storm and sinks. Pi finds himself in a rescue boat with Richard Parker, the wild flesh eater. They spend 227 days together. They become friends on a different level. Pi learns to accept Richard Parker just as is. In return, Richard Parker doesn’t eat him.

They both surrender to the sea, the weather, the sharks, the hunger, the thirst, etc.

They learn to keep each other alive. At the end, they reach the coast of Mexico.

At the end, I surrender because there is nothing to do.

The moment I surrendered, I felt the wind behind my back and I let it carry me wherever it wanted. I discovered the joy of not knowing where to go.

It is the first time I really felt the wind on my skin. Life is beautiful. I let it go. I let it go.

 

Ayşe Ay is a hopeless dreamer, a dedicated dynamic  yoga student, an English teacher in Turkey and likes writing, especially for children.

 

 

 

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Ed: Brianna Bemel
Assistant Ed: Josie H.

 

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