Comparison and Contrast

Two books that have changed the way I see this world are One and Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach. They contain such a spirit that it makes you to want to change your life. One describes the journey of two main characters traveling through their own life and in time. Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah is about two pilots, who fly around the U.S. in the early 1960’s, and sell plane rides. One of them, Donald ‘the reluctant messiah,’ becomes the teacher to his less experienced friend. The books have several elements in common as well as some important differences. One of the similarities is the life inspiring message given to readers. In One, the main characters, Richard and his wife Leslie, travel in an airplane through time and observe their own lives. Gradually, they discover that every decision we make, even the unimportant ones, changes and affects our future lives. And decisions that we make in peace with our inner selves can make us truly happy. For example, in one of their travels, Leslie is able to see herself as a young girl struggling with making an important decision. She had to choose between a modeling career and becoming a pianist, which was her lifelong dream. At the end she chose to be a model because of her financial problems. Although she is happy in her present life, she still wonders about how her life would have changed if she would have become a pianist. Similarly in Illusions, this inspiring message is brought to Richard by Donald Shimoda. These two friends fly their airplanes around the country and sell three dollar plane rides to people who have never flown. During this journey, Donald reveals his past about being messiah and his view of the world to his ‘spiritually immature’ friend. In one of their discussions about life, Donald gives him a book called the Messiah’s Handbook. This little book contains life truths such as, “you are never given a wish without being given the power to make it true” or “there is no such a thing as a problem without a gift for you in its hands, you seek problems because you need their gifts.” These two messages, along with all the others have a very strong influence on Richard. Towards the end of the story, he becomes as aware as Donald is, of all the possibilities that life offers.

Even though there are a lot of similarities, these stories also differ. One of the differences is the way the books end.