PEACE, Troubles, Fear, Jean Valjean and You

I don't know why I am writing this. I have had trouble for two weeks finding the right inspiration for the next post. I had Valentine's Day all lined up... You know I wrote The Last Valentine, and was going to share some history of that magical first novel to be made into a Hallmark movie for next year; history few know about... but for some reason, with all that is troubling the world, and just life, the lover's holiday got by me.

So I share with you this... about finding peace in these toubled times. It is something I understand. I have had some experience getting through tough times and major reversals more than once. The lessons learned form Victor Hugo's masterpiece come to mind as I consider the feelings of my heart right now.

Jean Valjean’s Choice

I love the line in the film version of Les Miserable when the Bishop protects Jean Valjean from going back to prison.

The Set Up: We see Jean Valjean in the opening scene, a man wearing rags and asleep on a bench in a quiet French village at the turn of the nineteenth century. He is an “ex-convict,” just freed from a French prison where he had spent 19 years at hard labor for stealing bread as a hungry and homeless youth. Bitter, he must make his way to his home town by foot in three days and report to the Parole Officer, where he will be denied work because he is an ex-convict, and thus find himself once again in a position to starve.

An old woman prods him to wake up and tells him, “You can’t sleep here.” He tells her, “Leave me alone…” and that he hasn’t eaten and no one will give him a place to sleep. “You haven’t tried that door. Try that door,” she says pointing.

It is the local Protestant Bishop and his wife. Valjean is fed and offered a place to sleep. His smallness of soul and bitterness cause him to do something that could land him back in prison, and yet he, for the first time in his life, will be shown “mercy;” by the very Bishop he beats and robs. The Bishop teaches Valjean a lesson that will not only serve him but changes all those lives who come into contact with Valjean forever. Watch this collage of clips from the movie…





The Bishop’s Mercy:

Bishop: “Now Don't Forget, Don't ever Forget, you've promised to become a new man.”

Jean Valjean: “Promise? What, Why are you doing this?”

Bishop: “Jean Valjean my brother, you no longer belong to evil. With this silver, I have bought your soul. I've ransomed you from fear and hatred, and now I give you back to God.”


Jean Valjean’s Lesson Learned:

The movie picks up years later. We see Valjean is a wealthy hermit of a man, having worked his way from the investment the Bishop made in him to owner of a factory. Though he prefers being left alone, he is so well respected for his honesty, tender regard for others, and humility, the people of the village of Vigot near Paris elect him Mayor. We see Jean Valjean as a good and merciful man who, like a ripple effect, adopted the goodness of the old Bishop and passes it forward in this new life of his.

Just as he thinks some peace may finally be his permanent reality, into his life comes a former enemy, a prison guard named Javert, now assigned to Vigot as “Inspector” (Chief of Police.)

To make a long story short Javert, his nemesis for the rest of the story, finds out that the mayor is really an ex “convict” by the name of Jean Valjean, and he is determined to see that he goes back to prison. The crisis continues as now Valjean must escape, create a new identity and seek some peace. Over the next 20 years he almost finds it and then Inspector Javert finds Valjean in Paris. Caught, he tells Valjean, who has committed no crimes, yet certain a criminal can never change: “It's a pity the law doesn't allow me to be merciful.”

The truth? Mercy is a choice. Forgiveness is a choice. Love is a choice. Only those who must follow some heartless list of rules exact punishment upon others long after the turbulent water has passed under the bridge once crossed by two who could not reconcile their differences.

Inspector Javert inspired fear in Valjean. He represented everything evil, unjust, and unfair about Jean Valjean’s earlier life.

Fear? The world has changed. Fear among the people across the globe is palpable. Many are faced with losing everything, and many more have had all their retirement and savings wiped out.

There is something we can do about it. Something that may seem small right now... It doesn't have to do with "getting" more stuff, or rescuing "things" but with giving away something more valuable than the financial and material things people are so fearful of losing. And... strangely, this very thing I recommend will begin to set the world right for you, and "getting things" restored that are lost will become not burdensome but a new adventure.

It is giving that unlocks getting: Is there someone who wronged you? Is there someone who has fear of you? Is there anyone who lacks peace because of hurt feelings, even if they are in the wrong? Does someone "owe" you? These are faced with wondering where God is for multiple reasons right now. They are filled with uncertainties about the future. They carry burdens and may carry one you do not intend for them to still carry. Release them...

The Bishop had told Valjean, after Valjean explained his torment for stealing to solve his hunger and the price he had to pay: “Man can be unjust.” Yet, the Bishop "freed" Valjean from his fears, and his only experience; the unjust nature of man and things, by a simple act of generosity and kindness and forgiveness...even though Valjean did certainly not "deserve" it at that moment.

Jean Valjean had to begin anew three times in this story. Jean Valjean was given multiple choices to get rid of Javert; twice violently, (and to all appearances no one would have missed the implacable Inspector) yet he would not allow the gift of the Bishop to become wasted. He spares Javert who then still will not let go...

In the end the victory was Valjean’s as he would not allow total destruction of one part of his life become the reason for an entire life of self-pity, fear, doubt and despair. The victory was priceless.

The wealth Valjean accumulated over time never solved the underlying problems of his fears… And with the hard-earned wealth he could not have purchased the peace of mind and heart that he longed for without giving something else away. It was giving away that which was given to him; passing it along...that gave him meaning and well-deserved peace from fear at last.

It was the reliance upon a power of mighty mercy that was the gift the Bishop gave to Jean Valjean and I recommend to you… It was Valjean’s losing himself for others, and giving mercy and forgiveness away that gained him every other victory.

Lose everything (I have twice) and your health (twice there also) yet do not lose your soul and hope. “Stuff” can been gained again, and health restored, but the satisfying peace that comes from knowing your heart is right with the world… that is priceless.

We can all have claim to it… Like the silver given to Valjean from the Bishop, we have the redemption from fear of one who did no harm; one who reached out to all to have his palms pierced, and who still reaches out to calm troubled hearts... if we will reach back, and in turn pass it along to others.


James Pratt
www.jmpratt.com
www.powerthink.com

HEART MATTERS FOR A NEW YEAR

New Heart Resolutions!

New Year's resolutions invite us to challenge our brain in a behavioral contest of change; a sort of "mind over matter" thing where we determine to begin new habits, unload old ones, and become a better person. My recomendation for the New Year is to examine some of what I call "Heart Matters." I will be sharing one weekly blog per month on the topic for 2008.

After all, if your heart works well, so does your brain. Your body can live "brain dead" (not that you would want to) but your body is "dead, dead" if the heart quits. So I begin...

The Steady and Reliable Heart

Your heart is about the same size as your fist. It beats without instruction from the brain. It has intelligent and intuitive capacity. It knows its job and its job is nothing less than assuring your survival. Here are some stunning statistics revealing what your heart actually does to insure you keep on the go each and every day.

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  An average adult body contains about five and one half quarts of blood.


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  All the blood vessels in the body joined end to end would stretch 62,000 miles or two and one half times around the earth.


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  The heart circulates the body's blood supply about 1,000 times each day.


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  The heart pumps the equivalent of 2,000 gallons each day.


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  Heart beats per minute range from an average 70 to 120 and over an average life span of 70 years the heart will beat more than 2 billion times.

How important is the human heart? You can lose a kidney, a lung, have paralysis affect various regions of the body, lose parts of mental capacity, or even be “brain-dead,” but if you lose your heart you become dead-dead.I am the lucky survivor of two near death causing internal injuries where life-saving blood transfusions were given me within a space of two years.

Both life-saving events occurred while I was writing my first novel The Last Valentine. In fact I used that singular experience of near death from blood loss to describe the final moments of one of the main characters who had been fatally wounded in the plot’s World War Two battle. See, I understood first hand a stomach wound with blood draining from me at a dangerous rate. I could describe how our hero felt, minute by life draining minute.

Here is what it fells like to be dying from sudden blood loss. You get cold as the blood moves first from the extremities to the vital organs. What decides this blood transfer for you? Your brain? No, the heart decides. It just knows what to do as it furiously picks up speed to send blood where it needs to go to keep the body alive.

As the blood continues to seep out of you, the vital organs are prioritized, and those most vital have the blood rushed to support them. You begin to get the chills even in July. Your heart is racing yet you can barely keep your eyes open – the oxygenated blood that feeds your brain is needed elsewhere. Doctors race to stop the flow of blood and you will be given someone else’s blood while they patch you up. But dying from blood loss doesn’t hurt. As you lose consciousness you also lose concern. A strange surrender envelopes you as you drift into unconsciousness.

Because of my concern for HIV possible tainted blood supplies, which had occurred in the 1990’s, I begged my friend, Dr. Neil Whitaker to find any other way to save me but by transfusion. He answered. “Jim, I don’t think you understand. This could be the ‘Big Adios.’” I recall weakly asking, “You mean as in ‘hasta la vista baby?’ That ‘Big Adios?’” He nodded. “Okay. Send the blood in,” I strained in answer.

It is no wonder my thoughts have turned to the miraculous and moving feeling concerning heart matters as I turned out such titles as, The Last Valentine, Ticket Home, The Good Heart, Paradise Bay, and As A Man Thinketh…In His Heart. The gift of life, the receipt of blood donated anonymously by another, is humbling and causes one to pause in gratitude and wonder at the preciousness of life. Someone with a very good heart offered me the life sustaining blood to carry on, not once but twice. I think about that every time I see the American Red Cross symbol, or “Blood Drive” signs around town.

We often are tempted to extol the human mind as the most brilliant of all God’s creations, the most magnificent computer, unlike anything man can create in all its capacities to compute and process commands and thoughts in real time.

Interestingly, no matter how much the brain demands and begs for our attention, the gentle and forgiving heart just moves on, doing what it does a thousand times each day – sustaining your life, giving you mortality, offering you another chance at life—a tomorrow.

Take time to thank your heart, and to share your heart-felt feelings with others. I’m glad someone unknown to me donated what had once passed through the most magnificent of God’s creations –the human heart!

FOOTBALL, LIFE, AND "HEART"

In Football and Life, It Takes "Heart"

The "Slight Edge" for Individual Success

ELEVATOR VERSION

I love football. I love how a little guy gets away with clobbering a bigger guy and no offense is taken. If it is, I love how teammates flood a zone to help you out in the legal brawl. I love the strategy of moves and counter moves where 11 men do their job anticipating 11 other trained players doing their job to stop them. The grace under pressure of a QB or running-back making it look so simple...the connection of ball to man to end zone -- though hundreds of hours of practice have gotten ball to man to end zone... I love the camaraderie, the execution of plays, and in the end I love the "heart" it takes to be your best, and win. In it resides what might be called "the slight edge" for individual success.

It's "pre-season" again. It has me thinking about all that football taught me. I have to say that it may have been the three years in Simi Valley's High School football program that set the course for the rest of my life of achievements where excellence is a factor. Any former player reading this knows what I'm talking about. Similar to a Soldier or Marine who learns discipline as a team player to get the job done, and has too much honor to "quit" ... well, you'll have to read the rest of the story to know where I'm going.

It was 1970 and I desperately wanted to “start” as running back for the Varsity football team, my final season at Simi Valley High School. I had worked hard the previous three years, had a couple of “lucky breaks” where I scored, but I was not the biggest, nor fastest runner on our team. I was as determined as anyone, willing to take the hits, but besides loving the game, that was about the extent of my talents.

The “heir-apparent” to Joe Gonzalez, the all league standout from the previous years was a tough, stocky, but even shorter than I was, Bobby Hernandez. The thing I liked about Bobby is that fullbacks “open” up holes for the less bulky half-backs to run through. Bobby wouldn’t let me or another starter running-back down. He would launch into a well placed block on any one any size without hesitation. I watched him during the August “two-a-days” when I knew we were all being judged for the “starting roster.” Eleven men on offense, eleven on defense, and the same for “specialty teams,” I came in second team to the fastest kid in Ventura County, Eddie Martinez, a junior. Bobby had two things: determination and "heart..."

STAIRCASE VERSION

There was a big difference between Bobby and Eddie, and it became apparent when Eddie would show up late, be found out about his drinking, and generally display an attitude that really fast guys sometimes have – it is a, “you need me coach” mentality that causes them to push the limits of a coach’s patience where rule breaking is concerned. Bobby Hernandez, on the other hand taught me a big lesson on how I could work on “catching up” with a more nimble, quick half-back, the open field speedster Eddie.

The lesson came on a day when a lot of us lacked the “hustle” that Coaches Meinke, Paris, and Cratty knew we would need to be competitive. I was exhausted; we all were. During drills Coach Paris stopped the practice with his whistle and chewed us out, and then added, “Bobby Hernandez seems to be the only player on this field who will do what I ask, not mouth off, slack off, or make excuses for himself. Bobby is steady. Bobby has heart. If the rest of you sorry excuses for offensive players were like Bobby, you’d be guaranteed the starting line-up and probably win every game! Now let’s get some wind sprints done!” Coach Cratty added, “Not only does this boy have heart, but he gives 150%. Time for wind sprints!” Bobby was not exempted from the group punishment.

The coaches ran us until we all dropped, but I kept my eye on Bobby. I finally had the key to winning my starting position. I would whittle away at speedster Eddie’s heels by being not only on time, but first to show hustle, keep the rules with exactness, never slacking off, saying “yes sir” with no excuses, and doing 150%. From that moment on (and I never told Bobby this) fullback Bobby Hernandez was my example. Bobby wasn’t faster than Eddie or me; but he was “steady” and he had “heart.”

It wasn’t long in to the season when Eddie showed up late for practice, having gotten drunk the night before. The coaches knew they were going to hurt their chances of getting those glorious touchdowns that simply come from faster foot work by a field-and-track sprinting star like Eddie. Eddie got "luckier" at scoring than I did, and more often because of "speed," but lacked the "red-hot" desire; the heart, to be number #1.

It took a lot for them to need “number 21 Pratt.” The reward for my efforts finally came in the third game of that season. For the next four games I started. I played with all my heart, but couldn’t match the speed of former running back Martinez and everyone knew it. Yet, with each carry I gained confidence. Bobby and I were a pair of running-backs on the same train going from one end-zone to another. He'd blow open a "hole" and I'd follow him through. Two hearts willing their way to the common goal beats one "lucky" primadonna anyday.

See--There is no "luck" involved with heart power. The “will to win" is more than a mental attitude; it is desire actualized. When "internalized" deep enough, this desire to suceed turns into a "white-hot imperative" helping the determined soul to perform feats that a weaker-willed, but talented person, will not do. Many have called this "the slight edge."

I was going to grow into the position and not let my team mates down. Maybe even play college ball! The night of the biggest game of my life, against number #1 ranked Newbury Park High School where one of my best friends was team captain, came. It was big for me because this good friend, Michael Carlisle, bragged about how they knew I was good at the "27 and 28 Sweep" and were going to “nail me” as he put it. It was also big because it was "Father and Son Night," and my Dad would be lined up on the field with the other Dads and then sit in the stand with Number 21 pinned to his shirt to let everyone known who his son was.

Long story short, it had rained, the field was a mud bowl, and I was playing my heart out. I recall hearing my name announced and cheers from the crowd as often as I ran with the ball, and was making good on my promise to make the "28 Sweep" work. I wanted my Dad to be proud. I knew it would take all the heart and soul in me to win ground against a superior ranked team. I took a lot of guff from my friend Mike Carlisle* team captain for Newbury Park High, and it now was “put up or shut up time.” We met several times on the muddy field that night. In fact, I was laughing my way to the end zone the last time he took a crack at me.

I couldn't know it, but it would be my final game, and the last time I wore pads when the final moment of glory came. Near the end of the first half, I could see pure “end zone” through my laser focused eye-sight, encased in home school maroon and gold helmet, but couldn’t see one of Mike Carlisle’s team mates about to cream me – blindside left. With full extension, my left knee was hit. I sailed for a few more yards, and then tried to stand up, yards away from the goal. Two things happened that stand out in my mind. My opponent eagerly offered a generous, “Come on man. Stand up. Stand up.” Then two teammates rushed to help me off the field; Mike Myers and Bobby Hernandez, both 150% “heart” players.

My season over, Dad came into the locker room at half-time, having seen his son for the first time play varsity ball, and my football glory days came to an abrupt end – or did they? I had made my Dad proud – and had wanted that. I had earned “first team” and had wanted that. I learned more than a little about playing life with “all your heart.” How could the 17 year-old ever know what Coach Paris word's about Bobby Hernandez’s example and hustle would mean? Those words still serve me each and every day of my life. When life knocks me down, "Bobby has heart" rings in my ears and I see myself getting up once more, having self-respect, doing my best, and having the heart to live up to any task.

Whereever I have been in life since, and whatever tough life circumstance I have been asked to deal with, I recall those glory days knowing having a lot of “heart” worked for Bobby, and worked for me – Having heart makes all the difference in personal success and will take you through to the "end zone."*

* Mike Carlisle would lose his life in San Salvador on May 29, 1973 serving others as a Mormon Missionary. Others who played on Simi's field served with honor giving their lives for country. The "end zone" just came for my quarterback one month ago. SEE July 11th post,"RETURN TO INNOCENCE."