WHY THE MESSENGER BROUGHT THE IRON TO THE FORGE EACH DAY

for two generations he brought the iron to the forge and some of the time the smith hit it with a thin metal sheet about the size of a flyswatter ... the rest of the time he used it to hit the apprentice ... needless to say the repeated blows had more effect over time on the messenger than on the message he brought each day to the forge ... the administrations of the smith had a positive effect on the iron ... they kept it sharp and free from rust ... their effect on the apprentice was harder to tell though they aged him dramatically in all the time they had to bear ... but he considered that a mere quantitative change ... what he intended and hoped for was a change in quality ... one so powerful it would feel like a change of being ... from pride to ascend to humility ... from luck to grace ... from good fortune to gratitude ... and from the expected perfidy otherwise of the rest of his day he hoped for some carryover in quiet attention if he couldn't manage devotion ... in respect without envy ... in nostalgia for a sense of wonder if he must fail to honor its original