Kat's Troubling Christmas Ponderings

        Sorry it’s been a few days since I have shared with you. I do appreciate everyone’s support. Your responses have made me feel so good. Anyway, I’ve been thinking about Christmas and how things have changed since I was little. When I was in kindergarten; our teacher would decorate the room for Christmas. All the kids got so excited. Mrs. Young, our teacher, put up Christmas lights, streamers, candy canes, and a live Christmas tree. She would let us make ornaments to decorate the tree. I still remember how happy it made us feel.
        I must admit that even though, over the last few years there has been less recognition of Christmas at our school, it didn’t bother me much until Carter and I returned from Dearth. Dearth was a terrible place where this supernatural person called the Adversary had a powerful hold on the lives of the people. There was so much sadness and suffering in that world because of greed and cruelty that Carter and I almost gave up believing there was any hope for Dearth. But every so often we would hear about or witness little glimmers of hope and love.
        In the southern kingdom of Dearth, there was a man called Goodman who had a wooden leg. His leg was caught in the wheel of a runaway horse and wagon headed for a little homeless girl playing in the street. After his injury, Goodman had so much trouble finding work that, as a last resort, he agreed to work for a cruel rich man who hired him just so he could humiliate him and break his spirit. The rich man couldn’t understand why anyone would risk his life for an orphan. Goodman worked for half the wages the other servants made. He slept in the barn because he was not allowed to sleep in the servant’s quarters. He was fed scraps and leftovers. He was given the most degrading jobs his master could think of. No matter what he did, the rich man could not break Goodman’s spirit.
        On his day off, Goodman would go to the village and spend his day with the orphans. He used his meager wages to buy them bread, cheese, and candy. He helped some of the older children get jobs and taught them to take care of the young ones. The children loved him, and his fellow servants respected him so much that they defied their master and snuck food and blankets to him.
        The rich man became jealous of Goodman’s popularity, and his hatred for the man grew. Then one day, the king of that land heard about Goodman. The rich man and Goodman were brought before the king. When the king understood the full extent of the rich man’s cruelty and the purity of Goodman’s heart, he took the rich man’s land and gave it to Goodman. He made the rich man, Goodman’s servant. The king also made Goodman the people’s champion to be an example of how to live and make their land prosper.
        There is so much more to this story I would like to share, but it will have to wait for another post. The reason why I told you about Goodman is because when I heard his story while traveling in Dearth, it made me feel the same way I felt when I was a little girl in kindergarten at Christmas time, surrounded by all the bright colors and lights. Goodman’s kindness was like a beautiful light of joy breaking through the darkness of Dearth. I see Christmas decorations as symbols of the light of love and kindness demonstrated by Goodman and all people of goodwill. And if that’s true, could the restricting of expressions of Christmas celebration, mean that love and kindness are fading from our world?
        It’s late, and I probably have said too much. It’s just what has been on my mind. Good night everyone.

Catherine Dives Right In

In the way of explanation, I set up this blog for Catherine Hamsted, nickname Kat. Kat is a girl who exists in the minds and hearts of those who enjoy reading about the exploits of her and her best friend Tobias Carter. Carter prefers to go by his surname. I do not want to give too much away as this is, after all, Kat’s blog. Since she is eager to share her feelings about the strange things that keep happening to her and Carter, I will turn this post over to her.

       Okay… well… I’m Kat. Like Mr. Groll said, I feel the need to share with others what’s been happening to me and Carter, and I want to discuss my feelings and opinions about what it all means. Carter and I agreed not to talk about the bizarre things that keep happening to us with anyone we know personally. The kids at our school already think we are weird.

        My X best friend, Katelyn, keeps telling people that I must be on drugs. I’d like to tell her that after what I saw in the Forge of Providence when Carter and I were in Dearth, I would never do drugs. The Forge of Providence is this massive cave we traveled through and we were tested to see if we were worthy to fulfill this prophesy. While we were in the cave we found this guy lying on the ground, paralyzed. He was crying and begging us to bring him one of these weird mushrooms that grew in the cave. He said that when you eat them you sleep and dream wonderful fantastic dreams that feel totally real. In the dreams you can do anything. But when you wake, you’re paralyzed for ten hours, and while you are awake, you crave another mushroom.  He wanted us to help him go back to sleep. We wanted to help him. He was in so much emotional pain, but eventually he would die from dehydration. We offered to stay with him until he was able to travel and take him with us. He refused. He was determined to dream again and again and again. As we walked away from him, he cursed us. I can still hear his screams as he begged us to come back and relieve his suffering with another mushroom.
        It turns out that the encounter was one of our tests. We were told that we passed. I guess we did the right thing, but sometimes I wonder if it would have been so wrong to give him just one more dream. Did we really do the right thing? I think we did. It’s not that I was judging him. He had the right to do with his life whatever he wanted. It’s just that I didn’t want to make it easy for him to destroy himself. If we don’t let people suffer the consequences of their actions, how will they ever learn a better way? I didn’t want to get in the way of life trying to teach him that life is not a dream. It is tough, but it’s worth living.
        You see. I cannot tell these things to people I know. They wouldn’t believe me, and I’m sure no one reading this will believe me either, but that’s okay. I would, however, like to know what you think about the decision we made.
        Oh… My mother is telling me to get off the computer. Thanks anyone out there who is listening. You don’t know how much this means to me. I got to go. She’s yelling now…