داستان انگلیسی بار انسانی و چمدان احساسی

ACTIVE LISTENING MAIN STORY

HUMAN CARGO AND EMOTIONAL BAGGAGE

This month we’re bringing you some unusual stories related to cargo, boxes, baggage and all the ways we describe the things we carry around with us. The word ‘cargo’ refers to goods or products carried by trains, planes, and ships. You might be surprised to learn that it’s also central to a unique religion, which has been nicknamed a cargo cult.

The cargo cult of Vanuatu began in the South Pacific in the 1930s. By this time, the people of Vanuatu had suffered years of oppression by European colonialists and missionaries. It was in this context that a messiah appeared. Like many religions, there are conflicting stories.

According to one version, in the late 1930s, a shaman entered the woods and drank tea from the hallucinogenic plant kava. He returned with a message from a new god named John Frum. John Frum was coming to the island and would send the white Europeans away and give them wealth and modern goods.

Then, shortly after the 1941 Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, 30,000 US soldiers arrived on Vanuatu. These new visitors were different. They were friendly, gave the people of Vanuatu well-paying jobs, and didn’t try to convert them to the white man’s religion.

Amazingly, some of them weren’t even white. The Vanuatu had no knowledge of the US history of racism, and they were amazed to see dark skinned men enjoying a lifestyle of wealth.

Even stranger, these US soldiers seemed to do no real work, but they were rich beyond belief. They didn’t grow anything, and they didn’t build or make anything, but they had medicine, telephones, electricity, jeeps and refrigerators. They had strange rituals like unfolding colored pieces of fabric and putting them high on poles in the morning and bringing them down again at night. They marched around in matching clothes. They moved papers across desks. And the gods rewarded them for their strange rituals. Boxes with parachutes amazingly floated down from the sky with all types of modern wonders.

After the war when the US left, the John Frum followers copied the rituals of the US soldiers. They made flags with stars and stripes and put them on poles. They cleared plants and trees in the jungle to make airstrips. They carved headphones out of coconuts. They made mock rifles from sticks and marched around with USA painted on their chests. They did everything they could to bring the US magic from the skies, but nothing came.

Strangely, this failure to produce the magic cargo wasn’t the end of the John Frum cargo cult. To this day, every February 15th, the faithful wear their US uniforms and carry their fake rifles made from sticks looking to the sky for divine cargo and the return of John Frum.

Shifting gears, from divine cargo to human cargo, we bring you the story of Henry “Box” Brown. Brown was born a slave in the US during the 1800s. Brown worked in a tobacco factory run by his owner in Richmond, Virginia. He became a valued worker, who was able to earn and save money from working overtime. Over the years, he married, rented a house, and raised a family. While Brown didn’t have his freedom, he had much to live for. He loved his wife dearly and was expecting a 4th child.

This all changed one day in August 1848. Brown and his wife had separate owners and out of the blue, his wife’s owner sold Brown’s family. Brown found his wife and children walking out of town in chains. Brown was helpless. All he could do was walk hand in hand with them for 4 miles as they left town.

Brown’s whole life was turned upside down that day. Without his family, he had nothing left to lose and decided to escape. He went to his friend, James Smith, who put him in touch with Samuel Smith, a white man sympathetic to the plight of slaves. Smith wanted to help, but they needed a plan. Brown prayed to God, and he said he heard a voice that said, “Go and get a box and put yourself in it.” He went to James and Samuel Smith with his plan to mail himself to freedom in a box, but they thought the journey would be too dangerous. At this time in US history, the country was divided with slave-owning states in the South, and slave free states in the North. The nearest free state was Pennsylvania. To get there, the box would need to travel 275 miles transferring multiple times from road to boat to train. Best case scenario, it would take 24 hours to get there. If he were caught, he would surely be whipped, sent back south and made an example of in the worst possible way. Brown’s friends were even more afraid of what would happen if the mail got delayed. Dying in the box from heat and suffocation was a very real possibility. Brown insisted on his plan and his friends finally agreed to help.

Brown needed an excuse to get out of work, so he wouldn’t be missed during his escape. He poured acid on his hand, but used too much and burned himself to the bone. Free to skip work that day, he got on with his plan. He crammed his 100 kilo body into a 90 cm by 75 cm by 60 cm box made of wood. His friends nailed it shut and he had no way out. Either he made it to Philadelphia, or he died in the box.

It was an arduous journey that began with a 4-hour boat ride. His friends had written “this side up with care” on the box, but the box was immediately put upside down. Brown traveled much of the way on his head with his body contorted and his hand burned badly. He had only four little holes drilled into the box for air. It was August in Virginia, so it was likely hot and humid outside, and inside a cramped box it was probably unbearable. Next he was transferred to a boat, where he was again placed upside down. He felt the blood filling his eyes and thought they would surely burst. Thankfully, some passengers looking for a place to sit turned the box on its side. After 4 hours on the boat, he was transferred by wagon from Washington DC to Baltimore. In Baltimore, Brown’s box was thrown from the wagon, rolled down a hill, and Brown once again landed on his head. Brown was knocked out.

He woke up sometime later to find himself on a train to Philadelphia.

When Brown’s box arrived at an abolitionist’s office, James McKim, the head of the abolitionist society worried that he might be accepting a box with a dead body inside. McKim writes, “We opened the box and up arose with a face radiant with joy and gratitude, one of the finest looking men you ever saw in your life.” Brown extended his hand and said, “Good Morning Gentlemen.” Brown had mailed himself to freedom.

Shifting gears once again, we bring you a story about baggage. Our physical suitcases, boxes, and bags are types of baggage. Another type of baggage is the mental and emotional traumas we carry throughout our lives. The simple story of two Zen monks illustrates this type of emotional baggage clearly.

As the two traveling monks entered a town, they passed a well-dressed woman standing in front of a puddle of rain and mud. She angrily scolded her servants who were unable to help her cross the street because their hands were full carrying her packages. The younger monk passed her without saying a word. The older monk stopped, lifted the woman on his back and carried her across. Without a word of thanks or any show of gratitude the woman pushed the monk away and walked off.

The younger monk walked in silence but was upset by the woman’s lack of gratitude. He couldn’t believe the lack of respect she showed the elder monk, and he just couldn’t let it go. Finally, he stopped and said, “That woman back there was very selfish and rude, but you picked her up on your back and carried her! Then she didn’t even thank you!” “I set the woman down hours ago,” the older monk replied. “Why are you still carrying her?” That’s all for this month. Here’s to hoping you travel light, carry only what you need, and find freedom in your life by letting the rest go.