“When I was eleven years old, my father decided he needed a new wall in front of his shop…. Every day for nearly a year, my brother and I would go to my father’s shop after school to work on that wall. We did everything ourselves…. Every day, we had to be there, mixing concrete, carrying buckets, laying bricks. It didn’t matter if it was raining, if it was hot as hell, if I was mad, if I was sad, if I was sick, if I had a test the next day — there were no excuses….
One day, Harry and I were in a particularly stank mood. We were dragging our feet and grumbling, “impossible this” and “ridiculous that.”
Daddio overheard us, threw down his tools, and marched over to where we were yapping. He snatched a brick out of my hand and held it up in front of us.
“Stop thinking about the damn wall!” he said. “There is no wall. There are only bricks. Your job is to lay this brick perfectly. Then move on to the next brick. Then lay that brick perfectly. Then the next one. Don’t be worrying about no wall. Your only concern is one brick….”
The days dragged on, and as much as I hated to admit it, I started to see what he was talking about. When I focused on the wall, the job felt impossible. Never-ending. But when I focused on one brick, everything got easy — I knew I could lay one damn brick well…
As the weeks passed, the bricks mounted, and the hole got just a little bit smaller. I started to see that the difference between a task that feels impossible and a task that feels doable is merely a matter of perspective.
Will Smith, and Mark Manson, Will, Penguin Press, New York, 2021, “The Wall”.
‘I Gave Birth To Twins, 8 Weeks Later We Made a Heartbreaking Discovery’
https://www.newsweek.com/i-had-twins-heartbreaking-discovery-weeks-later-1692589
The horrors of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine are increasingly coming to light
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/04/03/europe/ukraine-bucha-horrors/index.html
My most dearest Shosh and Jaialai:
It must be extremely tough for you. I know because I am going through the same experience as you. But get a hold of yourself and stop feeling sorry for yourself. The world can be an ugly place, full of injustices, unfairness, pain, and suffering. Bad things happen. Often times, the horrors of the world are visited upon people regardless of whether they deserve it or not, e.g., a child is born with congenital birth defect; people who were living normal lives one day become victims of war, rape and pillage the next through no fault of their own; and, people lose their homes and livelihood because of a once-in-a-century flood that is becoming more frequent.
You are born healthy. You are given intelligence. You have a roof over your head and food in your belly. You have opportunities to get a good education, earn money, and help others. Millions of others don’t have those privileges. Your job is to do the best you can under the circumstances with the talents you are given and to strive to be the best person possible.
When I say I try to live right in earlier posts, I should be more concrete and explain that I am really guided by two things. First, I believe we must use our God-given talents to do good in the world or we must answer for it when we meet our Maker. Jesus told several parables about this. Second, we must answer God’s call to help others even when it is not comfortable or convenient for us to do so. That’s our job in this life.
I have tried my best to live right by using my public policy and legal skills to help the homeless, the refugees, the poor, the elderly, the infirmed, and the marginalized whenever I am needed. This has made all the difference in the world by helping me maintain an appropriate perspective. Yes, my life may suck at any given moment, but there are those whose burden are much greater than I and who carry on with grace, humor, and humility.
I hope you too will make time to volunteer and help others. I hope that the endeavor will also help you put our horrid and unjust situation into perspective.
Think critically. Work hard. Live right. Be kind to others since you know not the cross they must bear. Help others, but do nothing to make their situation worse if you cannot help. Gain perspective. I will find make my way back to you by exposing the evil of those who bore false witness against us.
All my love, always and forever,
Dad
P.S., I leave you with the Serenity Prayer.
shoshandjaialai 