The Knight in Rusty Armor - A Story of Life Lessons

I’ve always been a bookworm. Ever since I could read the alphabet and make phrases, I would have a book in one hand and licorice in the other. I would read for hours, totally forgetting about people, time and space. Back then it was my escape as child. However, not a mandatory / stressful escape, but a pleasant and completely voluntary one where I would dive in the riches of my fantasy world… a world where there were no limits to my imagination. Those where golden times...

Fast forwarding 30 years later, there are several things that has changed in my life. Except for my mother and father (thank God for that) I hardly can recognize anything from my past. Things have changed drastically, some for the better and… unfortunately, some for the worst. Despite this I know there’s a reason for everything, and I’m overly grateful for the beautiful spiritual journey I’ve departed on since a couple of years.

One great thing I’m learning to do once again is reading. And no, I never stopped reading (if that’s what you think I meant). In fact, there were many academic books, self improvement books and several other similar literature over the years. No, in this case I’m actually referring to back to those days, when all I needed as a child to be happy and content, was a good storybook in one hand and…uhm…well, maybe not licorice this time, but a chocolate frappe in the other.

I now find myself all over again engaged in hours of reading, releasing whatever stress or tension the day may have brought. Good ol’ days in present time…what else could I want? Well, one added element I did not do when I was a young kid, is the fact that now I want to share…    

In this case I just read The Knight in Rusty Armor by Robert Fisher and I must say it’s one of the most meaningful stories I have read for a long, long time. Fisher skillfully uses various elements in the story as metaphors for the challenges we face in life. Moreover, he includes important lessons we should all learn so as to help us find more clarity in this seemingly complicated world.

The story is about a knight who led a busy life fighting battles, slaying dragons and rescuing damsels in distress because he wanted to prove that he was good, kind and loving. He loved his armor so much that he decided to keep it on at all times, so much so that his faithful wife Juliet and young son Christopher forgot how he looked without it.

When he finally reluctantly agreed to take off his armor for fear that his wife and son would leave him, he realized that he couldn’t remove it. He had kept it on for so long that it was stuck on him. The knight subsequently set off on a difficult and punishing quest to remove his armor and in the process, he rediscovered his true self and the meaning of life.

I absolutely love this story because I can relate to it so well. Actually, I have no doubt everyone can relate to it. The rusty armor can be considered a metaphor for the masks that we put on in life. These masks protect us but they also prevent others and especially ourselves from seeing the real us. Most of us have adopted social masks for so long that we believe we are those masks. But this couldn’t be more far from the truth. A sad thing is that we are all born with the greatest potentials, but along the way most of us sell ourselves short.

I highly recommend reading this book, which you can download here totally for free in PDF form. Enjoy reading… and feel free to leave any comment!

Melinda