Korea will be in the rear mirror in less than three month's time. How can I now develop the things that can't be carried over? Is it worth building sand castles before a rising tide?

But I'm careful not to take this line of thought too far, because it leads very quickly to the thought that death is inevitable and every moment is, in a way, a priceless investment with diminishing returns as we age. I really, really don't want to be caught thinking about the future that way!

So the Buddha said that there are three sorts of people with respect to their responses to hardship and insult. The first are like stones for whom the anger is engraved upon them permanently. The second are those like sand for whom anger is only drawn for a short time, and the third are like flowing rivers for whom the anger's shape is washed away into the flow almost instantaneously. I'm not angry about a thing, but I like that little parable.

Comments

Anonymous said…
It depends. Building sand castles, perhaps, as the building itself can be instructive and fulfilling, sand castles are by nature temporary structures in any event, and building sand castles can be a solitary activity, which means your actions can, if you choose, affect only you.

Building other things in these circumstances...well, a far, far more complicated question...
11:30 AM
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