This, Too, Shall Pass Alberto Alvaro Rios The Secret Lion suggests there is a fleeting nature to all

experiences. The short story communicates the perspective of young adults who learn wisdom through their quirky experiences. In every case, the boys find their attachments and pleasures are followed by loss and pain. The Secret Lion gives beautiful imagery to explain the concepts of impermanence and non-attachment. In The Secret Lion, two boys travel along an arroyo. They find a grinding ball. They are elated by their discovery and they exclaim, God this [ball] is perfect; this [ball] is perfect! [Sic] (413). So, the boys bury their perfect ball. They come back to find their ball and the ball is gone. The kids have their first unexpected meeting with a false paradise. At first, when they find the ball, they are in such joy and they call it perfection. Then, they lose the ball and with it, they lose their newfound fulfillment. The boys are confused, because they want to hold on, so badly, to their feelings of comfort. The narrator says, Nature seemed to keep pushing us around one way or another, teaching us the same thing every place we ended up. Natures gang was tough that way, teaching us stuff (414). Nature displays the recurring trend of duality. Whenever the boys are attached to a certain thing, the world teaches them to let go through taking away their valuable possessions or

through the addition of unexpected events. Nature is fickle in this way. It makes you feel as if you have attained something worthwhile, but in truth, possessions and situations cannot last. They are like prostitutes, who come and go as they desire. The boys do not give up there. They continue their search for heaven. This time they look in the mountains. On the other side of a hill, they find their new land, filled with trees and a beautiful lake. We were there, lying down, eating our sandwiches, laughing, throwing bread at each other and out for the birds. This was heaven (416). Just then, two men approach them with clubs and leather bags. It turns out their paradise is a golf course. The men yell at them. Again, the boys are fooled. Right then, they lose their fantasy; they are forced to leave the metaphorical bliss of childhood represented by the golf course; their naivet becomes impure. Adolescents experience a point where they know life will never be the same again, illustrated by this scene in the golf course. From their adventures, the boys are humbled. They told us about heaven. And it went away. We got golf in exchange (416).

They develop understanding after being coaxed by Mother Nature a couple times. By the end of the story, they bury another grinding ball. Then, the narrator says, The truth is, we didnt look so hard for it. We were two boys and twelve summers then, and not stupid. Things get taken away (416). Their childlike

purity is gone. The boys mature and they have learn to let go and let life take its course. They are not so foolish as to believe that the grinding ball will give them lasting happiness. They have tapped into the obvious rhythm of delusion, which promises contentment but only grants sorrow.