"That birthday card" - Besides the Point? A Re-thread

First of all, I'm well beyond college age. Years ago I received a birthday card that included a dimly recalled parable about two or three pilgrims on a journey who were somehow simply required to gather stones or pebbles and keep them, each in a sack.

As I recall, there was no advance suggestion that any good would come of the task. As the sacks grew heavier they became increasingly burdensome and a source of great complaint.

Again, I don't recall whether the miracle occurred to all three men or only to one of them; but, on the last day of the journey, at least one of them awoke to find that all of his stones had turned into jewels. At which point he deeply regretted that he hadn't gathered 100 bags of stones, however burdensome they might have been!

That birthday card was tossed, long ago. I found this site by Googling: stones into jewels: parable.
At the time, I took the story to be a parable about the redemptive value of suffering. In Colossians 1:24, Paul talks about making up for what is lacking in the suffering of Christ. And it seems that if each of us really understood that truth with his whole being, we would embrace suffering, not in itself, of course; but as another chance to participate in the redemptive act of Our Lord.

I'm intrigued by the notion that, in the essays at this site, the parable is seen as referring to the effort to gain knowledge. Then again, as one flower child said to me, back in the sixties: pain is just the breaking of the shell of knowledge. I wont deny the connection between suffering and knowledge; but I prefer to see the parable as encouraging the desire to redeem, as against the desire to know---which can far too easily lead to gnostic pride.

I regret not finding this site while this thread was still active. Thought I would pass on my thoughts, in any case.

P.S. I'm afraid I have to plead ignorance about Rule #2, below.

Ah, well... I was an idiot when I was college age, so I am happy to retain the youthful spirit while using discretion and methodical work. It is better to be a little older!

But what does that sentence have to do with this intro paragraph?
First of all, I'm well beyond college age. Years ago I received a birthday card that included a dimly recalled parable about two or three pilgrims on a journey who were somehow simply required to gather stones or pebbles and keep them, each in a sack.

This (above) is a nice way to begin. You can tell them that you are beyond college age (whatever that is) later in the essay, in some other way.

Oh!! Wait a minute! I see that this essay is about Essayforum, haha...


Yes, I would say so! And it is a beautiful way to express the idea, too, with the image of someone carrying around a bag of stones. Thanks for sharing this thought and correcting the way people interpreted the parable. It is no surprise that it is interpreted to be about knowledge acquisition here, because this site is full of college admissions essays.

I have something you share with you, too, about the redemptive value of suffering. I hope this will provide you with the same profound experience it provided me. It eased up a lot for me. Go meander aroud a bookstore and find a book by Victor Frankl called "Man's Search for Meaning." Find the section where he talks about a colleague whose wife had passed away. Read what Frankl wrote about the meaning that could be found in his suffering.

Thanks for participating!