Don’t be That Bug

According to Mark Twain madness is defined as doing the same things over and over again expecting different results.

This reminds me of a bug i found dead near a glass window pane. It is easy to know the cause of that bug’s death. It banged against the glass pane many times trying to break through until it died. Have you seen them bugs do that? It’s crazy they can’t recognize that there’s no way they can breakthrough that way. They don’t know that the only way to be able to go elsewhere is to change direction.

Well, it’s not really crazy. They are bugs and one would expect them to behave that way.

What’s crazy is to see people behave in the same fashion. With human being’s amazing ability to learn, why can’t we learn from Twain… Or the dead bug by the window?

Whenever you feel stuck and your way towards your goal is blocked. Remember this lesson. ask how you can do things differently or do different things.

Don’t be that dead bug

Of Coals and Diamonds

Coals are coals and diamonds are diamonds. They may have the same basic ingredient but they are far from being the same. You cannot expect coals to become diamonds nor diamonds to become coals.

Don’t get me wrong, there is no need for coals to be diamonds, they are good as they are. With their abundance, they get the machinery going and they fuel the industries.

I am reminded lately that what is true for coals and diamonds maybe true with people. Sometimes people have the romantic notion that coals should eventually graduate to becoming diamonds. I used to share that notion… Until lately.

Lately I realized that some of the coals I met are not diamonds in the rough. No amount of cutting and piling will make them look any close to being diamonds, and to push them to become one just adds to their stress because while they may be inspired by the thought of becoming diamonds, they just don’t have what it takes to become one. Some of them are just plain uninterested.

As a matter of lesson I realized I need to distinguish between a coal and a diamond in the rough… And let coals be coals.

I Squished a Snail

Yesterday, while i was walking i accidentally stepped on an African snail and squished it beyond recognition. I felt very sorry for the snail. I thought of the injustice of not being able to get out of harm’s way even if one can see its imminence. I wondered how it must have felt for that snail if it was blessed (or cursed) with even a bit of awareness that it will be squished. Imagine the horror of not being able to crawl faster to avoid sure death. I wonder if it just resigns itself to fate, to accept at that very moment before i stepped on it that the end is near.

And then i thought somehow, sometimes we are worse off than that snail. It didn’t have any choice. It probably doesn’t even have the ability to choose. We, on the other hand have the power to choose how to live our life choose the way of the snail. Some of us choose fate to determine us rather than us determining our fate.

The Shaping

It must be painful
to be purified by fire;
to be pounded into shape;
to be cooled, then heated again;
to sustain a desired shape.

But irons don’t have feelings.
Pots and jars aren’t alive.
They take what they’re given.
They become what they should be.
as their creators want them to be.

Sometimes one wishes that it’s as easy
with people as it is with things.
We often refuse to be shaped.
We want to be who we want us to be,
Not what others want us to be
Here in lies the problem.
Some people think they’re shapers,
And other people shapees.
To the chagrin of those other people

Parents, Leaders, Coaches, Teachers, Mentors.
Sons and Daughters, Followers, Players, Teachers, Proteges.

Off With Those Training Wheels

Recent experience reminded me that  the longer you keep the training wheels attached to a bicycle, the longer it takes for the learner to build the confidence to go without it. Sure they’re useful. They minimize the bumps and bruises. However, being too afraid of the  bumps and bruises could mean keeping the training wheels longer than necessary.The bumps and bruises help a lot in the learning process to you know. They teach us how to get up after a fall and hopefully learn how to balance better to avoid the painful fall. The experience too, should teach us that the pain of a fall is nothing compared to the joy of the ride.

This is true with bicycles as it is with life. As parents, leaders managers, and teachers, we sometimes fear letting go. As children, learners and wards we become too dependent for our own good. We all know those training wheels will have to go one day. It’s just that one day is not today. Remember the lesson. The longer you keep them, the longer it takes for you to face the challenges of life. Remember too that even the best cyclists crash and fall once in a while. My point is, the only way to avoid falling from a bike, is to never ride it. But do you really want that?