I read this yesterday:
I do not like the idea of helplessly suffering one's misfortunes, of passively bearing one's lot. The Stoics depress me. I do not want to look at life as an eternal making a best of a bad bargain. Granting all the circumstances, admitting all my disabilities, I want too to "warm both hands before the fire of life." What satisfactions I have, and they are many and precious, I do not want to look on as compensations, but as positive goods.
- The Handicapped Randolph Bourne
That last line particularly impressed me. I have felt lately that to expect more leaves one always wanting. But to be satisfied with what is, provides a foundation to build.
Dang, I sound like a fortune cookie. Maybe I should be a fortune cookie writer. That would be an awesome job.
3 comments:
I tend to have more problem with the "expecting more" and the dissatisfaction it brings rather than being satisfied with what is. For example, torturing myself with all the things I haven't done yet which are numerous because I love to think of "projects" of all the things I'd like to do or learn. What a stupid thing. Like when I realized part of why it is so helpful to get away from home is because I use my home to torture myself by focusing on all the things around there that I should be doing.
For some reason I have this twisted idea that being satisfied with what is means complacency, stagnation, etc. Where do these things come from?? I think it's genetic. It's definitely cultural, for my culture anyways...
If I wrote fortune cookie fortunes, I would be too tempted to do bad things. It is good to know ones weaknesses.
What if instead of Fortune cookies people started making "MISfortune cookies" or writing only bad things. People would probably stop eating chinese food. ;)
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