The Rock

There once was a Barnacle who spent his life clinging to a rock in the center of a tide pool. The rock was surrounded by a beautiful coral garden, and every day the Barnacle and his brothers and sisters witnessed all manner of aquatic life forms as they would swim and drift and sail past the rock.

But the Barnacle longed for something indefinable and wished to explore his environment more thoroughly. One day he asked his brother, who had been clinging onto the rock next to him all his life, "What would happen if I let go of the rock?"

"Oh, don't do that," his brother responded. "You would be swept away by the rip tides and dashed to pieces against the rocks and the coral of our little tide pool. Much safer to just hang on." And so the Barnacle continued to hang on for many moon cycles. But still he was dissatisfied.

Until one day, summoning up all his courage, the Barnacle released the rock... And he was swept up by the rip tides and dashed against the rocks and the coral of the tide pool as his brother had foretold. And it hurt more than he ever imagined it would... But his shell was much harder than anyone had suspected, and he survived his bumps and bruises and eventually was swept into much gentler currents. And as the little Barnacle drifted across the ocean floor, the wonders he saw...

New coral reefs, bursting with colors he had never dreamed existed. He encountered new species of fish, both familiar and bizarre in appearance, some were friendly and some not so much, but all had things to teach him. He bore witness to the counsel of whales and learned their ancient songs telling of the secret history of the world. And although from time to time a rip tide would take him and smash him about, his shell had grown even harder and now he barely felt the pain.

One early evening when the setting sun was staining the ocean floor with it's orange rays, giving everything an eerily beautiful glow, the Barnacle drifted over another tide pool, and beneath him he happened to spy another rock covered by a family of barnacles. And the barnacles looked up and were awed and they said with great reverence, "Surely you must be God, for you float above us..."

And the Barnacle laughed and replied, "We are all God. All you have to do is let go of the rock."

This Folk Tale was originally conveyed to me by my friend Joe Enzinna in Saratoga Springs, NY in the early 90s.