“Pretty moon tonight,” said one, gesturing toward the sky.
“The moon is pretty,” said another, “but why are you
gesturing like that?”
“Like what?” asked the first.
“With your palm up and all your fingers outstretched. The
correct way to point at the moon is with one finger extended and your arm
straight.”
“Actually it is more proper to do as I am, it reveals the
moon ever so much more elegantly.”
“But look at your elbow, all bent like that. Just awful.”
“Well look at your finger. You have dirt under your fingernail,
in case you hadn’t noticed.”
And they stopped looking at the moon so they could concentrate on what was wrong with the other's gesture.
“They now enjoy the moon itself instead of fighting over whose finger points to it most accurately, quickly, or definitively.” - Richard Rohr, in "Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life
Just then, two young lovers walked into the park. They
noticed the old ones arguing, but they gave them not a second glance.
“Pretty moon tonight,” said one.
“Beautiful,” said the other.
And they danced together in the moonlight.
1 comment:
Interesting how we get focused on ourselves. Perhaps we have never learned how to really love. Maybe love can only be given to those who are very different than ourselves.
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