CRACKPOT FRIENDS

by SPAZnik 4 Replies latest watchtower medical

• 

  SPAZnik

  A friend just sent me this wonderful story (& moral)
  I thought it'd be perfect to share with some o' my
  virtual crack pot palz: T HE CRACKED WATER POT A water bearer in India had two large pots,
  each hung on each end of a pole which he carried across his neck.
  One of the pots had a crack in it, and while the other pot was perfect
  and always delivered a full portion of water
  at the end of the long walk from the stream to the master's house,
  the cracked pot arrived only half full.
  For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering
  only one and a half pots full of water in his master's house. Of course,
  the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect to the end for
  which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own
  imperfection, and miserable that it was able to
  accomplish only half of what it had been made to do. After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure,
  it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream.
  "I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you."
  Why?" asked the bearer. "What are you ashamed of?"
  "I have been able, for these past two years, to deliver only half my
  load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the
  way back to your master's house. Because of my flaws, you have to do
  all of this work, and you don't get full value from your efforts," the pot
  said.
  The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in his
  compassion he said, "As we return to the master's house, I want you
  to notice the beautiful flowers along the path."
  Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of
  the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path,
  and this cheered it some. But at the end of the trail, it still felt
  bad because it had leaked out half its load, and so again it
  apologized to the bearer for its failure. The bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice that there were flowers
  only on your side of your path, but not on the other pot's side?
  That's because I have always known about your flaw, and I took
  advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path,
  and every day while we walk back from the stream, you've watered them.
  For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to
  decorate my master's table. Without you being just the way you are, he would
  not have this beauty to grace his house."
  Moral: Each of us has our own unique flaws. We're all cracked pots.
  Some of us are old, some not so smart, some fat, some bald, some physically
  challenged, but it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives
  together so very interesting and rewarding. You've just got to take each person for what they are, and look for the good in them.
  There is a lot of good out there. There is a lot of good in you!
  Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape. Remember to appreciate all the different people in your life!
  Or as I like to think of it - if not for the crackpots in my life, it would be pretty boring. -------- SPAZ <----*weeps softly lol
• 

  Shimmer

  SPAZ,

  I love that and I'm going to share that with my best crackpot friend. We are always talking about how we're "crazy as hell". Thanks for sharing that.

  Shimmer
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  COMF

  As under cover of departing Day
  Slunk hunger-stricken Ramazan away,
  Once more within the Potter's house alone
  I stood, surrounded by the Shapes of Clay.

  Shapes of all Sorts and Sizes, great and small,
  That stood along the floor and by the wall;
  And Some Loquacious Vessels were; and some
  Listen'd perhaps, but never talk'd at all.

  Said one among them--"Surely not in vain
  "My substance of the common Earth was ta'en
  And to this Figure moulded, to be broke,
  "Or trampled back to shapeless Earth again."

  Then said a Second--"Ne'er a peevish Boy
  "Would break the Bowl from which he drank in joy;
  "And He that with his hand the Vessel made
  "Will surely not in after Wrath destroy."

  After a momentary silence spake
  Some Vessel of a more ungainly Make;
  "They sneer at me for leaning all awry:
  "What! did the Hand then of the Potter shake?"

  Whereat some one of the loquacious Lot-
  I think a Sufi pipkin--waxing hot-
  "All this of Pot and Potter--Tell me, then,
  "Who is the Potter, pray, and who the Pot?"

  "Why," said another, "some there are who tell
  "Of one who threatens he will toss to Hell
  "The luckless Pots he marr'd in making--Pish!
  "He's a Good Fellow, and 't will all be well."

  "Well," murmur'd one, "let whoso make or buy,
  "My Clay with long Oblivion is gone dry:
  "But fill me with the old familiar juice,
  "Methinks I might recover by and by."
• 

  SPAZnik

  COMF,
  
  i finally got around to reading this. good one. thx for postin' that.

  SPAZ
• 

  COMF

  My pleasure, Spaz. It's an excerpt from "The Rubiayat" by Omar Kayyam... possibly my favorite poem.