Saturday 21 February 2009

Life's lessons.

.

Rabindranath Tagore wrote:

"The morning came but my servant appeared not.

The doors were all open, the water was not drawn from the well; my servant had been out all night. My morning meal was not ready; my clothes were all lying unfolded.

As the hours passed my anger grew, and I devised hard punishments for him. At the last he came, late in the morning and bowed low.

I called out angrily: "Go forth from my presence and never see my face again."

He looked at me, and remained silent, and then said in a low, husky voice:

"My little daughter died last night."

And without another word he went back to his daily task.

◊◊◊◊◊

"When a trout rising to a fly gets hooked on a line
and finds himself unable to swim about freely,
he begins with a fight which results in struggles
and splashes and sometimes escape.

Often, of course, the situation is too tough for him.

In the same way the human being struggles with his environment
and with the hooks that catch him.

Sometimes he masters his difficulties;
sometimes they are too much for him.
His struggles are all the world sees and
it naturally misunderstands them.

It is hard for a free fish to understand what is happening to a hooked one."

-- Karl Menniger

Yes, for those of you with good memories, this is a repost of something I put up over two years ago (!). It just seemed to resonate for me today.
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15 comments:

  1. I didn't know you 2 years ago (though it certainly feels as though I have) but I read the first bit somewhere else not long ago. It affected me. I hope you get a handle on whatever you're struggling with. I hope I do, too :)

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  2. well, I would hope that it means you're having so much rain, it's dredging up a river!

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  3. I've done that. Seriously. My maid's child didn't die, but that stuff happens constantly.

    Which is possibly not the point, but....

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  4. Oh .. that's deep. And so very sad. Also - Tagore's extract is a very good lesson for us to remember that there is usually a very good reason for things happening, and that we are not the centre of the universe.

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  5. I recognized the painting immediately..and then remember the post. Whatever struggle you're facing..just remember it's temporary..I need to remind myself too; many many times.

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  6. We often don't even understand our own stories - we just keep making them up. The hardest part is letting go of one ending for another...

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  7. Thank you Lee, patience and understanding with the first story and with the second, sometimes others see us at our worst and don't understand as we struggle to free ourselves from that which has ensnared us and try to escape the hurt. ♡

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  8. I have read your post and need to read it some more. I hope that the problem has not tired you out and so later you can see your way through.

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  9. Quick to judge, quick to assume.
    Narcicism, fear, anger often become our enemies.

    Wishing you well, Lee.

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  10. "Life is mostly froth and bubble, two things stand in stone: kindness in anothers trouble, courage in your own"

    have courage, dear friend!

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  11. by the way....did you get a small boost in viewers?

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  12. No, but everything falls away at weekends!

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  13. Same here as Hliza, I remembered the painting immediately and then the post!
    So true Lee, so true!! I hope you are ok?

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  14. I don't remember but I like it nonetheless.

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