Life like a Tapestry

Artspace at Untitled, a gallery in Oklahoma

In the book The Writer’s Journey, author Christopher Vogler gives in-depth insight on how to write captivating and well-rounded stories. He writes about his experience in writing The Lion King, a 1994 Disney animation that stills holds the record as one of the highest grossing animated films of all time. When writing the script for The Lion King, Vogler loosely based it off Hamlet, a tragedy written by William Shakespeare.

This insight re-emphasized my theory on great works of art or any other type of achievement which states that we accomplish way more when we acknowledge the competence of others and allow their input to propel us forward as opposed to doing it all on our own.

A great achievement that was in the news recently was the rescue of the football team in Thailand that was trapped in the Tham Luang cave for more than 10 days. The team comprised of 12 boys and one coach. It was difficult to rescue them because some areas of the cave had flooded due to monsoon rains and other ares were too narrow for rescue divers to wear scuba tanks.

A total of 90 divers were involved in the overall rescue; 40 from Thailand, and 30 from overseas. The communal and international efforts put into this mission were exemplary. The local community itself stepped in by providing meals, transportation and washing the rescuer’s clothes.

Mike Young, a spoken word artist, once said,

“Come bring your blood, sweat and tears, doubts and fears. Trade them in for a glory that’s too great for our hands to hold alone. You were always made for more than the glory you could earn on your own. You were never meant for less than standing hand in hand.”

Sometimes, it’s easier to get things done alone, but if the burden is shared, tremendous progress is achieved. Our lives are like a tapestry, a colorful weaving which symbolizes the success we achieve if we let others participate in our story.