Lessons of the Candlelight(James Sullivan) Major John Coham was a kindly old man, and he looked it, too. He had a jolly, always red from the amount of food he ate face, and hardly any wrinkles for a man of his age. A funny character, some might say. He had once been in the army in the second world war, but he hated fighting and war - he was a peace-loving, wise, gentle man. He had a smile that reached his eyes by some kind of electricity, so that they sparkled like diamonds in the light of the moonlight.

And that was why he moved to Redoak Cottage, a place full of character like his own in the depths of the beautiful and picturesque lake district, a place that inspired hearts around the world to pursue their dreams. He used to live in the city, by force of war - but he hated the murder, violence and an attitude appealing towards violence. But why did he go to war, you may ask. The truth is that conscription was compulsory during his early years, and unfortunately enough for him he turned eighteen in 1941, in the depths of the second world war, so he was obliged to join without negotiation. So that was why he moved to Redoak cottage. He had seen it in the property section of the papers-and it just immediately caught his eye. With no wife or children of his own, he was free to do as he pleased in his retirement days, and in 1989 when he was seventy-three years old and with such poor health, he couldn't work, so why not move to the country, he thought. He had come to Cumbria for some peace and quiet in his final years before his inevitable death.

So on the evening of the first of October, 1989, he was sitting in his room in Redoak cottage, looking out through the tudor windows at the winding, chilly lanes with trees picturesquely covered in autumns leaves. The stars were coming out of their hiding places in the sky one by one, and it was a chilly night, and the spell of winter had already set on the little town.

But the candlelight was, by some bewitchment, becoming stronger and stronger as the minutes passed by. He couldn't concentrate on the outside scene-only on the candlelight. The electricity was terrible in that section of the county, and, as usual, it had failed again. But he knew-he had hallucinations-he knew that he should never look at a candlelight by night, but something was driving him to it. So he turned his head and looked into the flame.

The flame at once (in his imagination) transformed into a rather oblong, cucumber-shaped head, but it was eerie all the same. The wick became a neck, the flame became bright red hair, and the candle became the shoulders holding the head upright.

"I have come to show you pictures of your life...ife...ife...ife' the head echoed into his mind.

The man thought he'd rather see the past than the future. So he went back in time.

He was sitting in a park in London, and he looked young, so it was probably in the late 1930s, with the grim buildings all around, in Hyde Park in London. But he remembered, even after fifty years, how he had felt at that point. Hopeless. Knowing that he was going to die in the war. Sitting with his mother, he had cried like a baby onto her shoulder, despite that fact that he was sixteen and that there were hundreds of people having picnics all around him at the time.

And that was the first lesson of the candlelight. That no matter what situation you're in, there's always something to look forward to. No matter what happens, there's always hope, and so no matter whether you're in a terrible situation in life or just a difficult one, you must have faith in yourself, and that's what his mother was telling him then. So that's the first lesson of this story - if you're thinking of committing suicide, don't. There's a life ahead of you. Each person on this Earth is giften in their own special way. Your parents cannot guide you towards your dreams, it's what grows in your heart that shapes your life away.

So then the man in the flame said:
"The essence of war and fighting and evil will be shown to you now."

So then he saw a scene from the war, a scene that haunted him the most to this day. It was in the year 1945, but the war was still going on strong on that cold, gusty winters day in February of that year. He had still been young, only twenty-two, still unmarried, but that shaped his life for him. His dear friend was dying in combat, and he felt that the only merciful thing to do was to kill him. So he did.

And that was the second lesson of the candlelight. That you can love, but you can also hurt. Like that day. The man was in pain, so he put him out of it. And he regretted it till this day, because he could have been saved five minutes after that. And that's the second lesson - in a difficult situation, don't lose hope, follow your heart, and always trust others - because it's from others and from god that we were made, dust to dust, and that we must never take a life from others. But we should put them out of their pain, but with trust their pain will go.

So then the candlelight spoke again:
"The future will be shown to you now."

He was now in a desert place, as he recognized by the sign it was Benghazi, Libya. He was in the year 2011. Libya was in the middle of an extreme crisis, as he could see. But what he saw in the dirt could take his breath away.

It was an emaciated child, driven to eat mud off the floor, his parents dead, the people of Gaddafi all around him, not caring at all about the little boy with a life to live, just shooting, killing, causing more pain, ruining the world some more.

This was the third lesson of the candlelight. That the history of the past had nothing to do with the life of the future. That we can all, with the hope in our hearts, wipe the slate clean and start anew. So the fighting of the past, in families, in businesses all around the world, is nothing compared to NOW. We can always start anew. The families around the world who have bad relationships, lovers, all of them-let's start anew-like the possibility of that boy in Libya in 2011 who was full of potential-but the past scraped it all away.

Then the man was back in the house, the candlelight a mere flicker before it burnt away. But the man was sure of this all. By 2011 he would surely be dead, at least he thought, but he knew that he had to make a difference now.



I hope this story helps you all across the world who are in pain or sorrow, because our hearts beat as one. The man died on the millenium, but he made his difference, by talking to people who were in pain across the world.

Email me at sjames@tisb.ac.in if you have any requests for any stories or any stories about what you're going through in life right at the moment, and I'll write it for you. I know we all have to have hope in our lives through stories of the heart and mind.

These lessons are for all those in the situations of the major. Catch these opportunites, have these attitudes, and your heart will tell you the way.

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