At the apex of misery, when your problems seem insurmountable, curse not your predicament. Instead, remember the wisdom of Confucius who reminds us that, “The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man without trials.”
It’s a complex world. I hope you’ll learn to make distinctions. A peach is not its fuzz, a toad is not its warts, a person is not his or her crankiness. If we can make distinctions, we can be tolerant, and we can get to the heart of our problems instead of wrestling endlessly with the gross exteriors. Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won’t come in.
- Alan Alda, at his daughter’s commencement address.
“Human nature is eternally hungry for recognition. The perfect food for this hunger is credit, written or spoken, acknowledgement of service rendered. Give the credit, all the credit, to the other person. When giving credit is second nature you will take your place among the world’s bigger people, for that is the way of bigness the world over.”
- James T. Mangan
Please indulge me as I work on my “bigness.”
This weekend my mother took her first spill on a motorcycle after more than forty years of riding without incident.
In honor of todays P.T.P., I’d like to give serious credit to Nancy Annis for being an awesome riding buddy!
To the E.M.T.’s, ambulance crew, doctors and nurses who attended her in the moments following the accident, a huge thank you!
To my Aunt Ellen and Uncle George for driving a very long way into the Adirondacks to retrieve the bikes and their riders after a day of misadventure.
To my moms friends who where willing to postpone their trip to Letchworth State Park until such time as mom recovers fully and is able to participate later this fall.
To my cousin Jonathan for the follow-up phone call to Georgia. It’s easy to be out-of-touch when you live a thousand miles away. Thanks for bridging the miles!
And to the rest of you…credit in advance for your prayers!
Word has it that she’s going to be fine. Battered and bruised yes…some lacerations, but no broken bones…thankfully!
Enjoy your week…and in the spirit of my mom, may you enjoy your every waking moment as fully!
“I have learned silence from the talkative, tolerance from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strangely, I am ungrateful to these teachers.”
- Khalil Gibran
