Above All

By Victoria Barlow

Once upon a time in a far away land, there lived a man. This man had many sons and daughters, each he cared for dearly. They all lived happily together while the children were young.

But as they grew older, his sons and daughters became increasingly restless and moved away to see other parts of the world. Oh, the many things they saw! They saw ice bergs bigger than their ship, deserts that spanned entire countries, endless oceans, occupations they never dreamed people would have, sheltered countries, huge pyramids and sphinxes. They quickly began to forget their father and the place they had come from amidst these wonders of the world.

Their father attempted to keep contact with them and succeeded only for a time, but the modern marvels of the world quickly stole their attention. He tried to bring them back home, but they were deaf to his pleas. There were too many things left unseen in this world for them to return.

Finally, with great anguish, it was decided that he would have to give up his only remaining son in order to gain his children back. At the young age of thirty-three, the son was made to die. The father could not look on at his son’s pain, so he turned his back.

His stray children came back to see this thing that had happened to their brother and they were immediately disheartened. But all was not sad. They realized how much their father loved them.

He gave up his only son so that they might live and live well with him forever.