Douglas the Dragon
Book Two
"Douglas the Dragon Gets Angry Again"
By
William Forde
Illustrations by Dave Bradbury
Copyright January 2012 by William Forde
Smashwords Edition
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Author’s Foreword
As so often in life, learning best comes from our most traumatic experiences. Over fifty years ago as a young boy of twelve, I was run over by a large wagon and received multiple injuries. My parents were told that I’d never walk again. For three years following my accident, a spinal injury prevented me from feeling any signs of life below my waist. The predominant emotions I experienced during this period were ‘Anger’ and ‘Fear’: intense ‘Anger’ at what had happened to me and ‘Fear’ of the inevitable consequences of never walking again. In time, ‘Anger and Fear’ consumed me. I stopped loving myself and felt unable to ‘Love’ others.
During the remainder of my teenage years, and aided by prayer and the practising of numerous eastern disciplines, my ability to walk returned. While being unable to pin point the precise cause of this seemingly miraculous recovery, I had, nevertheless, stumbled across the bodily correlation between ‘Fear, Anger and Love’ without realising it at the time, and how the malfunctioning of these three emotions govern our behaviour patterns.
In later life, as a Probation Officer serving in West Yorkshire, I found that my professional training left me ill-equipped to help many recidivists change their offending behaviour. After analysing the behavioural response patterns of 600 offenders, I found that the three human emotions of ‘Fear, Anger and Love’, and in particular, the inability to appropriately express these emotions, constituted the core of their general unhappiness, dissatisfaction and offending behaviour.
Remembering my own childhood experiences and my re-discovery of the behavioural correlation between ‘Fear, Anger and Love’, I abandoned the traditional Probation Officer method of working with offenders and, instead, constructed a group programme of work that I used thereafter. For the following 24 years, I operated hundreds of these group programmes with all ages of mixed sex in Probation Offices, Hostels, Prisons, Hospitals, Educational Establishments and Community Halls. These were my very first ‘Anger Management’ programmes operated in Great Britain. I’m proud to say that many similar group programmes have mushroomed in Europe, America and across the English speaking world ever since.
The principle of all successful Anger Management work has three essential stages at the heart of its process; a process of which I am the original founder, and which I freely gave to the world in 1971:
(1) Learn how to face and confront our ‘Fears.’
(2) Learn how to ‘Love’ ourselves so that we can be enabled to ‘Love’ others.
(3) Learn how to manage and appropriately express our ‘Anger.’
Fighting for the heart of every man, woman and child are two dragons; a ‘Dragon of Anger’ and a ‘Dragon of Love.’ These two dragons fight for the supremacy of control over one’s behaviour; what one thinks, feels and does. However, they cannot co-exist within one heart and body. In order to expel the ‘Dragon of Anger’ from our heart we must first invite in the ‘Dragon of Love.’
Douglas the Dragon symbolizes ‘The Power of Love.’ He teaches one that only by climbing one’s ‘Hill of Fear’ and expressing one’s love through what one thinks, feels and does, can one rid oneself of one’s ‘Hill of Anger.’
The Douglas Dragon stories were read to her young children when they were aged between 7 and 9 years old by the late Princess Diana. It pleases me to know that the next King of England had my stories read to him and his brother during their early years of life. It also pleases me to know that until her death, Princess Diana, believed in ‘The Power of Love’ and used it whenever she had the opportunity.
William Forde January 2012.
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Douglas the Dragon gets angry again
100 years had passed since the children of Marfield had melted the heart of Douglas the ‘ferocious’ Dragon with their happy songs, smiley faces and the power of their love; changing him into Douglas the ‘friendly’ Dragon and making him their lifelong friend.
The special place they had found for Douglas in the school playground had become his happy home. Over the years, he grew to become the special friend of every family in Marfield, and everyone and everything grew to love him dearly. When any schoolchild was troubled about anything, they would always tell Douglas and he would always listen to their concerns. Even if his counselling didn’t resolve their particular problem, they found that having had a listening ear to turn to in time of need was comfort in itself.
As the children arrived at their school each morning, Douglas would be the first to greet them with a cheerful, "Good morning, children." When school was over and home time arrived, Douglas would always be the last to say, "Good night, children. I'll see you again in the morning." And as the children slept soundly in their beds each night, Douglas the Dragon would guard their school in their absence. Even during weekends and school holiday periods the dragon would protect the children’s school from his playground home. Whatever the hour, day, week or month; whatever the weather or season, Douglas could always be found in his special playground home, happily watching over the children, playing with them and protecting their school when nobody else was there.
Douglas was so friendly and kind to everyone and everything, that nobody was ever frightened of being near him. No villager in Marfield ever saw him angry and nobody had ever entertained the thought that he ever could be!
The springtime birds would build their nests inside his huge years, while some birds rested upon his broad back between flights. The winter Robin often slept inside his mouth! In the hot months of summer, Douglas would blow a nice cool breeze around the playground. During the long, cold winter months, squirrels would store their nuts beneath the dragon’s tummy and Douglas would allow his long tail to become a winter scarf; wrapping it around hundreds of little woodland creatures as they nestled up close for comfort. When it snowed, if the children weren’t huddled up to their playground dragon to keep warm, they were either throwing snowballs at Douglas or climbing up on top of him and sliding down his long back from top to tail, like a ski slope. Even when it rained, the kindly dragon would stretch out both of his wings so that the children in need of shelter could remain dry.
Whether it was summer or winter, hot or cold, sunny, raining or snowing, Douglas the Dragon served the children of Marfield with kindness, consideration and loyalty; acting out the roles of friend, school warden, playground supervisor, hot-water bottle, radiator-storage unit, umbrella, ski slope and summer fan! Whatever the children wanted of him, Douglas the Dragon was only too happy to fulfil their needs.
During the 100 years he had lived in Marfield, Douglas attended many Christenings, birthday parties, marriages and funerals. When someone died, he was sad for a while, but most of the time he was a happy and contented dragon, attending Christening services, birthday celebrations and weddings. Although he was too huge to fit inside the buildings that the functions were held in, the people of Marfield always made a special space for him outside so that he could take part in the proceedings as much as possible. If, for example, the function was a funeral, Douglas the Dragon was tall enough to hear the graveside service from the entrance gates of the cemetery. If the service was a Christening or wedding inside a church, the church windows would be left open for Douglas to poke his head in so that he could hear and see what was taking place within. Wherever possible, all children’s birthday parties would be held outdoors and the dragon would be given buckets of creamy milk and three dozen mince pies until a slice of the birthday cake was passed around. Douglas loved creamy milk and mince pies better than any other food!