Chapter 10 - Part 2

So we threw our trash away and started walking through the carnival once again. The first thing we passed were the bumper cars. I remembered how knocked around we had been in there. Ken had said that life was like that unless we lived by certain rules or principles. I wondered if we had learned all of them, yet. He seemed to teach us a new one every time we went on a ride. There couldn’t be that many, though, or we’d never remember them all. I decided that I’d review as we went past the rides again.

We went past the prize booths and then over toward the House of Mirrors. It’s glittery sign still professed, “Commitment to Integrity: the House of Mirrors.” I was pretty sure that the prize booths weren’t supposed to teach us anything since they didn’t have a sign like that. As we came closer to the House of Mirrors, I saw a sign that I hadn’t seen before. It stood next to the ride in the same place that signs usually say, “You must be this tall to go on this ride.” It didn’t say that, though. It said lots of stuff.

“Hey guys!” I called out. “Come see this sign!”

Dad read it aloud:

Freedom Principle One:

COMMITMENT TO INTERITY:

[Principle is Never Compromised, Regardless of the Cost.]

1. I am totally honest, recognizing that “a lie is any communication given with the intent to deceive.”

2. Unless I am released from commitments, I must keep them.

3. I search for truth and align with it.

4. I take responsibility willingly for any problems I cause, and to the extent possible make them right.


“Wow! That’s really cool!” I said. I loved it. It made things sound so clear. I hoped I could remember them all. That’s when I noticed a small holder attached to the sign. It held handouts.

“Look Dad!” I cried. “Can I take one and keep it? Can I? Would that be okay?”

Dad picked up one of the handouts and looked at it carefully. “Yeah, Brittney, I think you can keep one. In fact, I think that’s the idea.” He then put the paper he had been looking at in his front shirt pocket. I was glad for that. Once I had written him a note that said, “I love you, Dad!” He had put it in the same place. I knew it would be safe there.

I grabbed one of the papers. I wished I had a front shirt pocket. I didn’t, though. I would have to just hold it in my hand.

We tried to walk around the house of mirrors to get to the back of the carnival, but there didn’t seem to be a way around. Instead we got to the Tunnel of Love. It had a smaller sign next to its entrance as well. We all went over to read it together.

Freedom Principle Two:

COMMITMENT TO AFFIRM WORTH & TO SHOW GENUINE COMPASSION

[Value is Sent, Even in the Face of Inappropriate Behavior.]

1. All persons, including self, are of infinite worth.

2. Behavior, for the most part, is learned.

3. Misbehavior is almost always the symptom of some other problem.

4. Behavior is almost invariably belief-linked.


We tried to get around the Tunnel of Love, too, but you couldn’t get behind it. That must not be the way out.

“Are we going to try to go on the ride, again?” Mom asked. She asked I think because Dad was standing looking at the place Ken had stood when we had first come out of the river. I think he was remembering what he had said.

Dad looked around at her. “No,” he said. “I don’t think we’ll go on the ride now. Let’s keep looking around. Maybe we will come back, though.”

We kept on walking. The prize booths were still in front of us, but now we came to the craft booths. We walked on and on through the maze of craft booths. They seemed to never end.

“I don’t think we’re getting anywhere!” Mom finally said.

“It feels like we’re going in circles,” Tom agreed.

“I told you we wouldn’t be able to get out,” I said.

Dad scowled at me. “Come on, then. Let’s at least try to get out from the craft booths.”

That turned out to be easier than we thought. We had wandered around in there for at least an hour, but when we wanted to get back, it seemed like we were almost immediately back at the Tea Cups ride. I looked over at Mom. She looked a little green just from being close to the ride again.

It had a little sign, too, though. We read that one, too.

Freedom Principle Four:

COMMITMENT TO AGENCY:

[Agency is the Key to Becoming a Self-Governing, Course-Correcting Individual]

1. There are fundamental or transcendent truths and laws, constant in nature, which can be obeyed or disobeyed. All other laws, rules, policies, etc., which are put in place, should be in harmony with these truths and laws [principle-based]. Man is not totally free [is not a moral agent] unless he is taught them.

2. There are inherent consequences, positive and negative, affixed to those fundamental truths and laws. These consequences, and those attached to other laws, rules or policies, need to be taught clearly and understood.

3. There is opposition in all things. Preparation to meet that opposition should be made beforehand.

4. Man must have unfettered choice.


“That’s weird,” Dad said. “We seemed to have done principle four before principle three.”

“Let’s go see if the roller coaster is principle three,” Tommy said.

“I thought we were looking for a way out!” I reminded them as I collected my third little paper.

“We are,” Dad said. “But maybe the way out is over by the roller coaster.”

He didn’t fool me, though. I knew that Dad was interested in these little signs and he wanted to read all of them. He’d get back to finding a way out -- later. Right now, these ideas were more interesting to him than finding our broken-down car. That was the long and short of it and really, who could blame him?

We passed by the other side of the prize booths and passed the bumper cars again. Then the roller coaster loomed ahead of us again.

Tom shook his head, “I really wish that coaster worked. It looks like so much fun.”

We found the sign next to the roller coaster entrance:

Freedom Principle Three:

COMMITMENT TO GROWTH:

[Transferring of Responsibility from a Temporary Steward to a Rightful Steward]

1. A temporary steward has the responsibility to place protective barriers, to teach and train, and to require accountability.

2. Man’s basic drive is to be free to make his own decisions.

3. Everyone has the seeds to the solutions to his own problems within himself.

4. Self-esteem rises in direct proportion to the amount of responsibility a person takes for his own actions. It is also impacted by how much responsibility he takes for what he believes and thinks, and for what he emotionally and verbally communicates to others.

5. A skillful steward sustains those under him by modeling proper leadership qualities, providing needed material resource, giving strong emotional support, and where appropriate, giving of his own time willingly.


Dad was holding his paper – the fourth he had collected, too – just like me. “It’s interesting,” he said almost to himself. “There’s more to these principles than I understood the first time around. There’s a lot to them. Maybe more than a person can understand all at once.”

“I think so, too,” Mom agreed. “But, any new thing takes time to learn. Doesn’t it, Britt?” Mom asked putting her arm around me and giving me a squeeze. I knew she’d help me learn new things when we got back home. The thought was exciting. I really think I could do anything with my mom behind me.

“Well,” Dad said looking up and around at each of us, “Did we see all the rides?”

“I don’t think so,” Tommy said. “I thought I saw a haunted house behind the Tea Cups ride.”

“Oh yeah!” I said. “I saw that the first day we were here!” Was that really just yesterday? It seemed like forever ago. I shivered, though. I hoped that wasn’t one of the attractions we had to go on. I didn’t like haunted houses.

I frowned and looked pleadingly at Mom. I hoped she could see in my eyes how much I didn’t want to go and she would get me out of it. She returned my look sympathetically, but she said, “Let’s go at least have a look at it and see what it is all about.”

“First things first,” Dad said. “Let’s see if we can get out past the roller coaster.”

There was a high fence all around the bottom of the roller coaster. I imagined it was to keep people from getting hurt by things falling off the ride or getting hurt by the ride itself. We couldn’t get around the fence, of course, (I knew we wouldn’t be able to get out) and beyond it was just the indistinct greyness that seemed to engulf the carnival like a bubble.

Dad finally sighed and said, “Let’s look around the bumper cars. That’s where everything seems to start. Maybe there’s an entrance there and an exit, too.”

That made good sense. We walked all the way around it. What we found behind it, though, wasn’t an entrance or exit. It was the Haunted House. Above the door it read, “Commitment to Trust My Instincts: The Haunted House.”

I groaned. There was a sign above the door. That meant it was one of the rides we had to go on. If there hadn’t been a sign, I might have been able to talk everybody out of it. Now, I doubted I would have that chance. To my surprise, though, everyone seemed to be holding back. It didn’t look like anyone very much wanted to go inside.

“Hey look, Dad!” I called, “There’s a smaller sign next to this entrance, too!” We read this final one together:

Freedom Principle Five:

COMMITMENT TO TRUST MY INSTINCTS & MY INTUITIVE RESPONSES:

[Recognizing and Responding to the Intimations of the Heart.]

1. We are spirit beings first, with an innate capacity to sense and feel, to detect and discern emotions fom any source.

2. Emotions are neither good nor bad. They are natural alarms which provide keys to accessing and understanding what has happened to us, or is currently happening within us. They also alert us regarding any external encroachments by others.

3. One who sharpens his skills in discerning, in focusing on, and in responding to the intimations of the heart, opens the doorway to profound learning experiences.

“Sounds like an interesting one,” Mom said. “It sure doesn’t seem to match the ride.”

We all looked up at the haunted house. The front of it was completely black. It was shaped like an old Victorian home with a large front door and windows and a balcony above that where another door opened and seemed to imply the presence of ghosts inside. Cobwebs hung from the balcony and from the tops of the doors and windows.

“It doesn’t look like anyone’s even been in there for a long time,” Tommy said.

“Oh, people go in,” chimed in a voice from behind us. We all jumped. We were used to being alone by now, with the possible exception of Ken every now and then. It was freaky to find another person suddenly behind us. He was missing his hair and most of his teeth and looked ancient, I thought. He was creepy. I thought he matched the house. I slunk closer to my mom.

“People do go in,” he repeated, “But sometimes they don’t come out!” then he cackled this even creepier high-pitched laugh. Then he came really close to my face, even though I was trying very hard to disappear behind mom’s legs, and he whispered loud enough for everyone to hear, “Sometimes you can hear them screaming!”

He cackled again and walked off. I stayed behind mom’s legs, though and looked at that haunted house again. I didn’t know if we’d ever come out of there if we went in. I didn’t know if I’d be the one screaming. What I did know was that I did not want to go in there.