There can be challenges in bearing your own burdens. You can tell people your problems and let them listen but it doesn’t necessarily mean they will understand. To demonstrate my point I decided to compare the video game, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim to the fable, The Cross Room. Since my comparison is between a video game and a fable, the story line will differ greatly, but, this doesn’t mean they will be unalike in all ways. They both have a similar context when dealing with your own problems. In the fable the young man prayed to the Lord stating “ I have too heavy of a cross to bear”.
The Lord helps the young man, but, in the end it was the young man who left with the same problem as before. In the video game, the player’s character can interact with others, telling them the heavy weight life has put on your shoulders. This includes your main quest line which is to save Skyrim by fighting off the “World Eater” Alduin. In Skyrim you have to deal with your own problems but at the same time, help others in difficult times, knowing you will not gain anything from it, except maybe a sword or two. Thus helping one of the characters, Ulfric Stormcloak who said “I fight for the men I’ve held in my arms, dying on foreign soil!
I fight for their wives and children, whose names I heard whispered in their last breath. I fight for we few who did come home, only to find our country full of strangers wearing familiar faces. I fight for my people impoverished to pay the debts of an Empire too weak to rule them, yet brands them criminals for wanting to rule themselves! I fight so that all the fighting I’ve already done hasn’t been for nothing! I fight… because I must. ” But in the end this task also lays upon you as well. These two scenarios are similar in more ways than just by looking at them.
They both posses the same meaning, that of handling their own problems, but seeking and gaining help from others that will lead them on the right path. In the fable, the young man seeks guidance from the Lord and what he ends up with is an understanding that your problems are your own, and not for others to deal with. In Skyrim the player’s character gains an understanding of the world from Paarthurnax in order to obtain the skills required to defeat Alduin. The Dovahkiin does not look to Paarthurnax as a dragon who can do his/her bidding, but more so as a mentor who can teach them and lead them towards the path that is right for them.
The fable expresses how your problems are your own to deal with greatly at the end after the Lord told the young man to place his cross inside a room, then told the man chooses another cross. When the young man chooses another the Lord states “My son, that’s the cross you brought in”. In the video game, the player finds out one of the biggest burdens they must carry is being the Dragonborn, or the Dovahkiin. This puts a great weight on the player’s character knowing that some of the people are envious of you or upset with you. For instance, Alduin states “You do not even know our tongue, do you?
Such arrogance, to dare take for yourself the name of Dovah (Dragon)! ” but this is not something the player’s character takes to heart, instead, they build from it, learning about the language and seeking guidance from others even though they may never be a real Dovah. These two statements are similar, even if they do not bear the same meaning, they both have a similar situation. In the end, realization hits hard when the young man and the player’s character figure out that their issue is not realizing their problems are their own to deal with.
In the fable, the young man must hold on to this heavy cross, dealing with his problems, and can not trade them in for another. In the video game, the player’s character must understand that they are not a dragon, they can’t talk like them or be like them, but they can save others from them. Thus understanding their problem is not being one but more so understanding them and helping others by defeating the hostile ones. Bearing your own burdens has the same meaning as dealing with your own problems.
It is not a bad idea to let others come in and help you figure out your problems, but, letting others take control and deal with your own problems will result in you having a bigger problem. The young man in the fable came in with a cross and yet left with the same one. The player’s character figures out they have dragon blood running through them and tries to embrace it, but in the end they figure out that they are not a dragon. A person’s burden is for them to bear, not for others. When figuring out a situation, you can let others help, but bear the burdens you have and don’t give them to others to deal with.
