Buzzati’s Restless Nights Part 5 of 5: The Seven Messengers
December 22, 2009 by dr. lam
As the heir to my father’s kingdom, I decided at the age of 30 to set forth and to define where the boundaries of my father’s kingdom lie, as no one before me has hitherto done so. I brought along with me seven of my trusted men, whom I named alphabetically to minimize confusion. They were Alessandro, Bartolomeo, Caio, Domenico, Ettore, Federico, and Gregorio. We set out after my thirtieth birthday on this tireless quest.
At first, we went over the mountains and the rivers that were familiar to us and after about 30 days I sent back Alessandro to give message of our travels and to report back to us what message he had learned from our kingdom. We continued to travel further away from the kingdom’s center, and I did not account properly for the time that it would take Alessandro to travel back to the kingdom and then come back to our extended position. It took him approximately 3 months at that point to reach us with news from the kingdom.
I then sent out Bartolomeo and we were at this point 6 months into our travels, and it required about 2 years before Bartolomeo made it back to us with withered parchment of outdated news from the kingdom. Every few months, I continued to send out messengers knowing full well that it would be years before I would see them back. I was hesitant to send out my last Gregorio until Alessandro should return.
We had now journeyed many years out, and I was now in my sixtieth year on earth, knowing that my last messenger at this time, Domenico, would not return before my death. Nevertheless, I sent him back to tell them of our whereabouts as we continued our journey further not knowing when and if I should gain news, albeit very old and perhaps useless, of our kingdom. My father had already died and I had not seen him for 30 years now. My brother had assumed the throne, as I was unavailable due to this extended journey.
I do not know in fact whether we have passed the frontier or not. I do not know what the frontier between my father’s land and beyond actually looks like. We just continued to travel perhaps in vain to find that frontier. I am still venturing forth to find that marker on behalf of the kingdom.
Buzzati’s story was profoundly enlightening to me. First, what resonates with me is this man is on a fruitless quest for something that may have no merit for him, his kingdom, or his travel mates. He in fact has no idea why he is doing it. He also had no real plan for going forth, and he cannot even recognize what the frontier border is to begin with. Many times in our life, we spend so many years striving for something that we think is right for us, but is it? Are we not like the protagonist tirelessly pursuing something that may not have any merit for us? When do we stop doing it, when we are old and tired or when we can stop our mission at an earlier interval? Does our ego dominate why we do what we do or is there a larger purpose that makes sense in a more fundamental way?
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5 Responses to “Buzzati’s Restless Nights Part 5 of 5: The Seven Messengers”
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I read this one today
Thanks again for the book. The stories coupled with your insight make a great read every morning.
Very important message, Dr. Lam!
Hey, Phebey!! Glad you’re commenting!!!
=)
thanks phebey and heather!
How cool to find somebody who is a Buzzati fan…as a doc I would imagine you loved the hilariously dark Seven Floors. It has given me a healthy dread of your profession!
Thanks for your delightful posting.
thanks! i don’t know if i have read that one?