A World I Cannot Visit

     Many years ago someone introduced me to a little book titled The Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran. It is made up of short writings about many aspects of life. My favorite was about children, and I read it over and over again as I navigated the challenging world of parenthood. One phrase that did not resonate with me at the time reads “You may house their bodies but not their souls, For their souls live in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.” Better understanding of that concept came years later, during the Covid pandemic.

     Prior to the pandemic I had just started serving as a “big brother” to an eleven-year- old boy. We had done a few things together face to face, and then that method of interacting was shut done. We tried to continue the relationship by me joining him in on-line video games, specifically Roblox. It was a complete failure, due to my inability to grasp either the objective or the use of the various tools.

     I was determined to conquer this new challenge, and so enlisted, one after another, three of my grandchildren to teach me. All worked patiently with me, but none were successful. I learned that I could not join them in an activity that played a significant role in their life. Indeed, it seemed that I could not even visit them in a way that did not lead to me feeling like an outsider trying to look in through a foggy window. The phrase from The Prophet became meaningful.

     Last night my daughter (age 54, and to whom I can not only visit but relate) suggested that we watch a documentary called The Remarkable Life of Ibelin. It summarizes the life of Mats Steen, who suffered from a congenital muscle disease that severely handicapped him physically. As his ability to do normal physical activity declined, he spent more and more time engaged as Ibelin, a character he created in an on-line video game called The World of Warcraft. Through Ibelin, Mats could do all the things he could not do as himself.

     I do not begin to understand just how it works, but not only did Mats use this venue to live out his desires, so did many other people. They formed relationships within the game. Mats, through Ibelin, came to have a positive influence on many people. After his death, his parents received hundreds of emails telling how Mats had been a friend to them.

     At this point I am content to leave the world of on-line video games to much younger people. I do not need to visit, not even in my dreams. Yet I appreciate watching the documentary on Ibelin, as it reveals to me that God’s hand may well be at work in a form I never considered.