Nation

I have been reading yet another book by Terry Pratchett, and this time a book he wrote geared for young adults.

The book tackles and exciting tale of a young tribal boy, anticipating his manhood, and a lost young woman from developing world, both landing on the same island. Each is a mystery to the other, each speaks in a different language. And the two, together, must find away to build a society from a destroyed nation.

But there is one aspect that has caught my attention and here, I will elaborate:

"Where is your chief?"
"I'm here," said Mau firmly.
The young man started at Mau. "You are the Chief? But you're just a boy!"
"Not just. Not even. Not only. Who knows?" said Mau, "The wave came. These are new days.Who knows what we are? We survived, that's all." He paused and thought: and became what we have to be.

The most exciting parts of this grand story is that the young Mau went off to seek his manhood, and in coming upon his own island after a storm, he proved that he could become that, not by accomplishing the assigned tasks of elders or filling the expectations of his people~ but by taking upon himself the responsibility of building from nothing, and without the "right-know how" from his people. Mau had to discover, on his own- how to properly bury the dead, find food, water or milk, and had to face his fears...of the spirits he thought were tormenting him. He had to learn how to treat a strange girl and welcome her and work with her to build a new nation.

We are more resilient than we give ourselves credit for. When we feel the weakest, it often means we are at our strongest to survive, to pull forward, and to build again. Nothing is truly impossible, even when building a Nation.