Sara, Book 1 (11 page)
Mr. Hoyt laughed hard. Sara had truly taken him off guard with her quick humor. Sara’s clever reply had surprised Sara, too.
“Well, you have a good day, sweetheart! Keep having fun!”
Sara felt wonderful as she walked back out onto Main Street.
Birds of a feather,
Sara pondered.
The Law of Attraction. It’s everywhere!
What a beautiful day!
Sara appreciated just leaning back, looking upward at the bright blue sky on this exceptionally warm winter day. The usually frozen streets and sidewalks were shining wet, and little streams of water were trickling across Sara’s path, forming little puddles here and there.
“Varooooom!” Jason and Billy yelled in unison as they whizzed past Sara, riding their bicycles as fast and as close to her as they could without bumping into her. Dirty water splashed up Sara’s legs.
“Monsters!” Sara yelled, dripping with muddy water and seething with anger.
This just doesn’t make sense. I’ve got to ask Solomon about this.
Her wet clothes dried and most of the muddy marks were brushed away, but by the end of the day Sara was still confused and angry. She was mad at Jason, but then there wasn’t anything new in that. Sara felt angry at Solomon, too, and at the Law of Attraction and Birds of a Feather and at mean people. In fact, Sara was pretty much mad at everybody.
As always, Solomon was perched on his post, waiting patiently for Sara’s visit.
You seem unusually excited today, Sara. What is it you’d like to talk about?
“Solomon!” Sara blurted, “Something is really wrong with this Law of Attraction thing!”
Sara waited, expecting Solomon to correct her.
Go on, Sara.
“Well, you said that the Law of Attraction says that that which is like unto itself is drawn? And Jason and Billy are really rotten, Solomon. They spend all day, mostly, looking for ways to make other people feel bad.” Sara paused a bit, still expecting Solomon to interrupt.
Go on.
“Well, Solomon, I’m not rotten. I mean, I don’t splash mud on people or bump them with my bicycle. I don’t trap or kill little animals or let the air out of people’s tires, so how come Jason and Billy keep flocking with me? We aren’t birds of a feather, Solomon. We are different!”
Do you think that Jason and Billy are truly rotten, Sara?
“Yes, Solomon, I do!”
They are rascals, I’ll agree with you there,
Solomon nodded,
but they are pretty much like everyone and everything in the Universe. They have that which is wanted, and the lack of it, all mixed in together. Have you ever noticed your brother doing something nice?
“Well, yes, I guess. But hardly ever,” Sara stammered. “I’d have to think about that. But Solomon, I still don’t get it. Why do they keep bothering me? I don’t bother them!”
Well, Sara, this is the way it works. In every moment, you have the option of looking at something that you want, or at the lack of it. When you’re looking at something you want—just by observing it, you begin to vibrate as it is. You become the same as it is, Sara. Do you understand?
“You mean that just by watching someone who is rotten, I’m rotten, too?”
Well, not exactly, but you’re beginning to understand. Imagine a light board, about the size of your bed.
“A light board?”
Yes, Sara. A board with thousands of little lights, like little Christmas tree lights, protruding up from the board. A sea of lights. Thousands of them, and you’re one of these lights. When you give your attention to something, just by giving it your attention, your light on the board lights up, and, in that moment, every other light on the board—
that is in vibrational harmony
with your light
—
lights up, too. And those lights represent your world. Those are the people and experiences that you now have vibrational access to.
Think about it, Sara. Of all the people you know, who does your brother, Jason, tease and harass the most?
Sara answered instantly. “Me, Solomon. He’s always bothering me!”
And of all the people you know, who do you think is most bothered by Jason’s teasing? Who do you think lights their light board in vibrational harmony with these rascals, Sara?
Sara laughed, now beginning to understand. “It’s me, Solomon. I am most bothered. I keep lighting my light board by watching Jason and getting mad at him.”
So you see, Sara, as you see something you do not like, and you notice it and push against it and think about it
—
you light your light board, and then you get more of that. Often, you’re vibrating there even when Jason is nowhere around. You’re just remembering the last thing that happened when he
was
around. The nice thing about all of this, Sara, is this: You can always tell, by the way you’re feeling, what you’re achieving vibrational harmony with.
“What do you mean?”
Whenever you’re happy, whenever you’re feeling appreciation, whenever you’re noticing the positive aspects of someone or something, you’re vibrating in harmony with what you
do
want. But whenever you feel angry or fearful, whenever you feel guilty or disappointed, you’re—in that very moment—achieving harmony with what you
don’t
want.
“Every single time, Solomon?”
Yes. Every time. You can always trust the way you feel. It’s your Guidance System. Ponder this, Sara. In the next few days, as you’re observing those around you, pay particular attention to the way you’re feeling. Show yourself, Sara, what
you
are achieving vibrational harmony with.
“Okay, Solomon. I’ll try. But this is pretty tricky, you know. This may take a lot of practice.”
Agreed. It’s nice that there are so many others around you to give you an opportunity to practice. Have fun with this.
And with that, Solomon was up and away.
Easy for you to say, Solomon,
Sara thought.
You get to choose who you spend time with. You’re not stuck in school with Lynn and Tommy. You don’t have to live with Jason.
Then, as clearly as if Solomon were sitting right there speaking directly into Sara’s ears, she heard:
When your happiness depends on what somebody else does or does not do, you’re trapped, because you cannot control what they think or what they do. You will discover a true liberation, a freedom beyond your wildest dreams, when you discover that your joy does not depend on anyone else.
Your joy only depends on what you choose to
give your attention to.
W
hat a day this has been,
Sara thought as she walked toward Solomon’s thicket.
“I hate school!” Sara blurted out loud as she slipped back into the feeling of anger that had begun the very moment she had walked onto the school grounds. She walked along, looking mostly down at her feet, recalling the details of this wretched day.
She had arrived at the front gate at the same moment that the school bus arrived, and when the bus driver opened the doors, a herd of rowdy boys had almost mowed Sara down, bumping her from every direction, causing her to drop her books, spilling the contents of her bag. And worst of all, her theme paper for Mr. Jorgensen had been literally trampled. Sara gathered the crumpled, muddied papers into a pile and stuffed them into her bag. “That’s what I get for caring what the stupid paper looks like,” Sara had grumbled, now regretting having taken the time to rewrite it a second time before folding it carefully and putting it into her book bag.
Still trying to get things back together as she walked through the big front doors, Sara wasn’t moving fast enough for Miss Webster. “Move along, Sara, I don’t have all day!” the slender, and mostly hated, third-grade teacher had snapped at Sara.
“Excuse me for being alive!” Sara had muttered under her breath. “Good grief!”
Sara must have looked at her watch 100 times during the day, counting the minutes to some freedom from this rampage of meanness.
And then, at last, the final bell rang, and Sara was free.
“I hate school. I really hate school. How can something that feels so terrible be of any value to anyone?”
Out of habit, Sara made her way to Solomon’s thicket, and as she made the last turn onto Thacker’s Trail, Sara thought,
This is the very worst mood I’ve been in ever. Especially since meeting Solomon.
“Solomon,” Sara complained, “I hate school. I think it’s a waste of time.”
Solomon was very quiet.
“It’s like a cage that you can’t get out of, and the people in the cage are mean and are looking for ways to hurt you all day long.”
Still no comment from Solomon.
“It’s bad enough when the kids are mean to each other, but the teachers are mean, too, Solomon. I don’t think they like being there either.”
Solomon just sat there staring. Only the occasional blinking of his big yellow eyes let Sara know that he wasn’t sound asleep.
A tear slipped down Sara’s cheek as her frustration welled up within her. “Solomon, I just want to be happy. And I don’t think I will ever be happy at school.”
Well then, Sara, I think you’d better get out of town, too.
Sara looked up, startled by Solomon’s sudden comment.
“What did you say, Solomon? Get out of town, too?”
Yes, Sara, if you’re leaving your school because there are some negative things there, then I think you should get out of town, too, and out of this state and out of this country and off the face of this Earth, even out of this Universe. And now, Sara, I don’t know where to send you.
Sara was confused. This didn’t seem like the solution-seeking Solomon she had come to know and love.
“Solomon, what are you saying?”
Well, Sara, I’ve discovered that in every single particle of the Universe there is that which is wanted and the lack of it. In every person, in every situation, in every place, in every moment
—
those choices are always there. Ever present. So you see, Sara, if you’re leaving one place or circumstance because there is negative in it, the next place you go will be pretty much the same.
“You’re not making me feel better, Solomon. It feels hopeless.”
