All I Really Need To Know I Learn From Children's Books: Who Is The Boss? (BOOK 2)

St John the Baptist by Leonardo Da Vinci

YOU BELONG TO GOD, CHILDREN, AND YOU HAVE CONQUERED THEM, FOR THE ONE WHO IS IN YOU IS GREATER THAN THE ONE WHO IS IN THE WORLD. 1 JOHN 4:4

This is Book 2 of a series entitled "All I Really Need To Know I Learn From Children's Books."

Book Details:

Nota Bene-the story you find here is a shortened version and the selected illustrations and paintings are all by Leonardo Da Vinci.

Title: Who Is The Boss? (An adaptation)

Author: Josse Goffin

Publisher: Clarion Books New York

Year/Date Published: 1992

I am the boss!

No. I am the boss!

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I am taller than you. But I am more terrifying.

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I have invented a better bouncing machine.

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My invention is supremely superior.

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My manners are finer than yours.

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But I am a much nicer person.

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I am master of the sword.

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I am king of all that I see.

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No weight is too heavy for me.

My balance is perfect.

The Virtuvian Man by Leonardo Da Vinci

Even lightning obeys my command.

I am exceptionally gifted.

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I am the boss! No! I am!

(While they were at sea a turbulent storm came and their ship capsized.)

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Now! Who is the boss?

Competition talents, either a boon or a bane

Everyone has innate competition talent. This is the drive within a person to measure his or her progress against the performance of others. This drive to compete can be very valuable because the better and the more efficient way becomes the yardstick or the ultimate measurement of people's performance. There is no feeling quite like it when you gain victory in a particular task and success itself is the victor's own reward.

Competition, although it can be a boon in a particular institution or organization because it challenges its members to excel and it brings energy to a group to move to higher levels of excellence, it also could be a bane when the competition becomes an unhealthy one. It could be counterproductive when people put others down. In the context of this pandemic, many scientists and researchers are on the race to finding a cure. That is very good. We must produce a winner in this race in the soonest possible time.

There is a very sad reality though in what is happening now to some countries like here in the Philippines. Competition becomes politicized and is driven by ambitions to get ahead of the others. The virus is no longer just the common enemy but other competitors (fellow politicians) are also seen as a form of "virus" that must be eliminated in the race. If the country becomes victorious in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic but then some greedy individuals come to see that they did not outperform their opponents, the victory feels hollow.

During a pandemic, who is the boss?

Dr Bruce Aylward was part of a World Health Organization (WHO) team that went to China last January 2020 when the outbreak began. Let me quote what he answered when asked, "Will coronavirus ever go away?" He said, "The virus is just going to sit you out, right? It will just circulate quietly among households, etc. And then you are going to let them all go again. There is no reason it shouldn't take off again, unless you are ready for it... That's nature. This is a biological process. They don't run like clockwork. There is great variability... This will end, you know, in humanity being victorious over yet another virus. There is no question about that. The question is how much and how fast we will take the measures necessary to minimize the damage that this thing can do... it is going to take great cooperation and patience from the general population to play their part." Dr Aylward turns the table towards all of humanity for at the end of the day the lot of this virus is up to our decisions and painful sacrifice. This reminds me of what Pope Francis said in Laudato Si' that, "There can be no renewal of our relationship with nature without a renewal of humanity itself" (LS 118).

Word Of God:

1 Corinthians 9:24–27 (NRSV):

"Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it. Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one. So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air; but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified."

Questions To Ponder:

1. Think of your journey at this period of the Covid-19 pandemic as a race. Where are you in the race? Who ahead of you would you like to catch? What will this take you?

2. Identify the common enemy of humanity? We are each of us part of one big problem, but each one is key to the resolution for we are all connected. What are the ways that you can outperform others in the race towards healing and reconciliation, and hope?

Fr JM Manzano SJ