The Three Brothers and the Great Divide

SUMMARY: The following is a modern parable of the deep and dangerous divide all men will inevitably confront.

Three brothers lived on the far side of a deep ravine. The direct route to town as the birds flew was toward the gap. It was a scary place for mother told them of how their father had disappeared at the ravine when they were young children and was never heard from again. Fatherless and raised by their mother her message became deeply ingrained, “Mind the Gap.” The boys loved their mother and felt the sadness and lack of their father. Whenever they took a trip to re-supply they would travel a long route following the ravine to a distant safe crossing to town. The next day they would return reversing the route all the while minding the gap. 

One day their mother died leaving the each brother with the memory of her words: Mind the Gap.

The first brother was cautious and committed to never approach the gap. He built a fence that kept him and his children from the dangerous ravine. He would take the long circuitous route to town but due to the length of travel he and his family generally avoided town. In work and play he would mind the gap by stopping short or, if necessary, going around the dangerous abyss.

The second brother was more adventurous and a problem-solver who studied the obstacle and settled upon an ingenious solution. He slung large ropes across the gap and secured planks to the strong cabling. The newly constructed rope bridge enabled him to make a direct and careful trek across the ravine. Town was now a direct and shorter route and the swaying bridge allowed him to make it to and fro. He would mind the gap by going over the abyss.

The third brother was a curious and reflective man. He had seen how his older brothers lived short of the gap or found a way over the gap. Questions abounded and curiosity haunted him about what was within the gap. It was a gap into which his father had disappeared when he was a still little boy. While his brothers had understood their mother’s “Mind the gap” as a warning, the youngest and most curious of the brothers considered it a challenge, “Mind the gap.” 

One day he resolved that he would accept the challenge so just before sunrise he walked to the ravine past the first brother’s fence and next to his second brother’s bridge. Tying off with to a  bridge stake he lowered himself and disappeared into the darkness below.

Post-script

There is a continuation of this story and as a parable it is a tool to help us look inward, outward and upward. This pause creates a gap at which we stand as the third brother. The way we peer into this gap is as important as the gap itself.

What gap have you been told to mind?

How have you come to understand your relationship to this gap?

What limitations have you imposed on your life due to this gap?

What would it mean if this gap was no longer a warning but an invitation?

Are you ready to mind the gap?