The king called all of his wisest men to the castle. As they stood before him, he gave them this charge: Find me one sentence that is true at all times.
Of course, this seemed an impossible task. Nothing, they thought, is true for all people, let alone true at all times. They spent days in deep thought and contemplation, pondering their dilemma. Exasperated, tired and out of ideas, they finally decided to go to the king and admit failure, uncertain what his reaction would be.
Then the oldest and wisest of their number raised a hand and told them to wait, for he had the answer. But he would not say what it was. Instead, he insisted they all approach the king together the following day.
When they did the king, clearly frustrated at the time they had spent thinking and he'd spent waiting, demanded an answer. The rest cowered as the king bellowed, but not the oldest and wisest. He simply waited for the king to calm down, then, bowing, said, "This, too, shall pass."
If life is good right now, remember that "this, too, shall pass." If life is very hard right now and you're at the end of your rope, just remember that "this, too, shall pass." Nothing, good or bad, endures forever. Everything changes eventually.
I think those wise men missed out on another statement that is true at nearly all times: "Love will find a way."
Love will find a way into your life. Love will find a way to change your life. Love will find a way into your heart. Love will find a way to hurt you. Love will find a way even when all else fails. Love will find a way, no matter how old or young you are. Love will find a way when things seem their most impossible.
Love will find way whether we want it to or not.
And love will find a way to leave us whether we want it to or not. Because, as the song writer once wrote, "love means watching someone die." To love someone is to watch them grow old and eventually leave this life, if they don't leave in other ways before then. Which is why, even though love will find a way, some people cannot accept or allow love into their lives and hearts. The love is there, waiting for them, ready to be with them, but they are too afraid to take the risk. They won't risk the pain of eventual loss for the reward of love, even if only for a brief while. For them there is no truth in the saying, "It is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all."
For them, love will only find a way to hurt them. And that they cannot risk.
Which is the greatest tragedy. Because, given a chance, "love will find a way."
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
INTRIGUING CREATURES
Women are God's most intriguing creatures. They are strong and yet fragile, beautiful and yet tough, the best of humanity and yet, sometimes, its worst. After all, what can be worst than a mother killing her own children? At the same time, what is better and more noble than the love most mothers have for all children, not just their own?
Women will always remain an unsolvable mystery to men. Much as quantum physics, they simply are beyond our comprehension. We can study them, watch them, listen to them, learn from them and yet we truly never will know them.
Which is why, I think, many women feel unfulfilled and lonely in their lives. Because not only do the men in their lives not understand them, those same men don't even try. Because we men, unfortunately, usually give up early in life even trying to grasp the meaning and purpose behind all manner of mysteries placed before us -- God, religion, science, the universe, the designated hitter, the knuckleball and, of course, women -- simply because they are beyond our feeble minds.
Worse yet, we tend to lump all women into that "unknowable" category, thereby cutting ourselves off from those whom we love as well as those we simply encounter in the world. And yet if we simply relaxed, listened and talked to the woman we love we might discover a level of understanding and comprehension heretofore unheard of in male-female relationships. We will never truly know her, but we can know and understand her better with each passing day, if we only are open to the experience.
Of course, most of us are at the point now where, after years of neglect, we'd have to convince the woman we love that we are seriously interested in her and want to know her better in order to get her to open up to us. If we can convince her to share her heart, soul and mind with us, however, we are in for incredible enlightenment.
Not that we have any hope of truly understanding everything that makes a woman, well, a woman. Not even the greatest male minds -- Aristotle, Plato, Kafka, Einstein, Woody Allen -- have been able to grasp that ultimate mystery. But they, at least, welcomed the challenge.
Are you up to it?
Women will always remain an unsolvable mystery to men. Much as quantum physics, they simply are beyond our comprehension. We can study them, watch them, listen to them, learn from them and yet we truly never will know them.
Which is why, I think, many women feel unfulfilled and lonely in their lives. Because not only do the men in their lives not understand them, those same men don't even try. Because we men, unfortunately, usually give up early in life even trying to grasp the meaning and purpose behind all manner of mysteries placed before us -- God, religion, science, the universe, the designated hitter, the knuckleball and, of course, women -- simply because they are beyond our feeble minds.
Worse yet, we tend to lump all women into that "unknowable" category, thereby cutting ourselves off from those whom we love as well as those we simply encounter in the world. And yet if we simply relaxed, listened and talked to the woman we love we might discover a level of understanding and comprehension heretofore unheard of in male-female relationships. We will never truly know her, but we can know and understand her better with each passing day, if we only are open to the experience.
Of course, most of us are at the point now where, after years of neglect, we'd have to convince the woman we love that we are seriously interested in her and want to know her better in order to get her to open up to us. If we can convince her to share her heart, soul and mind with us, however, we are in for incredible enlightenment.
Not that we have any hope of truly understanding everything that makes a woman, well, a woman. Not even the greatest male minds -- Aristotle, Plato, Kafka, Einstein, Woody Allen -- have been able to grasp that ultimate mystery. But they, at least, welcomed the challenge.
Are you up to it?
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