When The Giant Comes To Town

Just last month a giant came to town.

No, I’m not joking. For three days, Limerick was taken over by a 25 foot giant granny which is a marionette of sorts. Very impressive – especially with the state-of-the-art mechanism that allowed the Royal de luxe Granny to walk, sleep, talk , or sit in a very life-like way. The spectacle attracted more than 230,000 tourists and left children and adults alike with a huge sense of awe.

That got me thinking about giants, not that I have not thought about giants since Jack and the Beanstalk. There are fictional giants and metaphorical giants.

Fictional giants are those portrayed in storybooks. They normally have a foul dispensation and are monsters associated with chaos. They are the regular antagonists with the exception of The BFG (Big Friendly Giant) by Roald Dahl.

Metaphorical giants are symbols of strength. Such are the giants in the sporting arena. We have the San Francisco Giants,  a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California that plays in the National League West Division. The New York Giants on the other hand are a professional American football team located in the New York metropolitan area.

Isaac Newton said, “If I have seen further than others, it is because I was standing on the shoulders of giants.’ These giants are the pillars of society, the embodiment of all that is powerful and impressive beyond that of the average and ordinary person.

As far as the mind can recall somewhere along the line, we have encountered giants who have impacted us -  the parent, the teacher, the leader, the influencer. These are the ones we look up too, the ones we want to emulate. We render our devoted admiration to these pillars of society and woe be to them should they stumble or make mistakes. In our dogged perception of bigger-than-life characters, we forget that they can be human too.

Metaphorical giants are also symbols of the battles that we face. These giants enslave us. They take the form of the oppressor, the bully, the corrupt or the wicked. They are the problems, pressures, pains, and persecutions that we will have to deal with from time to time   They are the unpleasant traits such as pride, hatred and unforgiveness  that prevent us from moving forward.

Such giants become even bigger when we focus on them. The more we are afraid or anxious about a giant in our lives, the more powerful he becomes. It becomes worse when we think we are fighting the giant alone. Of late, I have met with many people who are very insecure. People, both young and old, who think they are not good enough and have a low self image of themselves. Whatever you say to them, the reply is always in the negative. It is not uncommon to hear them say, ‘I cannot do this, I cannot go there or I cannot wear this’. There could be many reasons that have caused them to behave in this way – the society, their beliefs, their upbringing and the people they regularly hang out with.

It takes another person, maybe a good friend, to make some time for them, to take them out, to listen to them and help them see that the sun is still shining.

Confronting the giant is the beginning of victory. Then comes regained confidence and the courage to see that no giant has the right to defeat us unless we allow it to happen. We forget that we are made of amazing stuff and there is a deep well of strength within and without that we can draw upon.

Like any giant who is here today and gone tomorrow, the Limerick Giant Granny has left the city after her three day walkabout. Being the most amiable giant I have ever met, she has left a huge impact especially in the memories of children and we were sorry to see her go. But with the other unfavourable giants in our lives, it is up to us to chase them out because they have outlived their stay of welcome.

Source: http://www.nst.com.my/node/44288