RS25: Tuck Everlasting Reflection

Answer the following question.  The rubric page titled, Reflection Rubric will be used to grade this reflection.

Use the following to answer the question

Angus Tuck takes Winnie out onto the lake and tells her the following:
Look around you, it’s life. The flowers, and trees, and frogs, its all part of the wheel. It’s always changing. It’s always growing. Like you, Winnie, your life is never the same. You were once a child, now you are about to become a woman. One day you’ll grow up. You’ll do something important. You’ll have children maybe, and then one day you’ll go out. Just like the flame of a candle. You’ll make way for new life as a certainty. It’s the natural way of things. And then, there’s us. What we Tucks have, you can’t call it living. We just are. We’re like rocks stuck at the side of the stream. Listen to me, Winnie, you know a dangerous secret. If people find out about the spring, they’ll trample over each other to get that water. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about people: Many people will do anything. Anything not to die. And they’ll do anything to keep from living their life. Do you want to stay stuck as you are right now, forever? I just want to make you understand.”

 

  1. Tuck clearly as an idea about what life should be.  Explain Tuck’s vision of life in your own words.   Do you agree with Tuck?  There is a Scottish Proverb which says, Be happy while you’re living, for you’re a long time dead. Is this proverb trying to tell us the same thing as Tuck is?  Explain.

The Imagery of Jesus

In his teaching, Jesus used everyday language. His lessons were based on things his listeners were familiar with. He spoke of shepherds and sheep, of rocky soil and mustard seed. These were all part of daily life in Palestine at that time.

Do you think Jesus’ message would have affected people as much if he had spoken in terms of heaven and angels, not rocks and farmers?

The Wild Man of Gerasenes

According to the Gospel of Mark in the Bible, a man near Gerasenes was possessed by an army of demons. The man was a source of fear for the local people. He had been living in a tomb, hitting himself with rocks, and yelling wildly at night. Jesus helped the man transfer his demons onto a flock of pigs, and the pigs ran over a cliff.

Would you have been able to approach a wild man like the one in Gerasenes? What would have kept you away from him? Why do you think Jesus approached him?

Going with the Flow

Many religions use stories as a way of teaching people how to live. Here is a Taoist story.

An old man was walking with friends by a swift-flowing river when he stumbled and fell into the water. He was swept downstream through a set of fierce rapids, dashing among the rocks. Then he plunged over the edge of a steep waterfall. His friends, fearing for his life, rant to the pool below the waterfall. To their amazement the old man came to the edge of the pool, unharmed.

“Old man,” they cried, “how could you have survived both the rapids and the waterfall?”

“I cannot tell you,” he answered. “I only know that I did not try to fight the water, but allowed myself to be shaped by it. I accommodated myself to the stream, and the stream carried me without harm.”


What do you think is the message of this story?