Tuesday, December 12, 2006
My Mountain
Forgive the mixed metaphores. Not intended to be read with my previous post on mountains.
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I have built myself a mountain. It's quite a nice mountain, picturesque. I stand upon the top of it, gazing down upon those who do not have a mountain of their own. How small and insignificant they look. I gaze across the plains, looking at others, those who do have their own mountains, much smaller than mine I say to myself.
I stand on the top of my mountain, and I never leave it. I never notice the cast iron chains I have inadvertently wrought. Since I never try to move off the mountain they are anchored to.
Those without a mountain see only a man chaining himself to the top of a pile of dirt and rocks.
Isn't perspective a wonderful thing.
For myself, my mountain is made up of Pride. Pride in my own intellect. Pride in the self-examining way I live my life. Pride in the person I am.
But from my mountain I can look down on others, assured that they are much smaller than me. Never realising that my mountain is a prison, and I look like a fool.
That's my mountain. What's yours.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
I have built myself a mountain. It's quite a nice mountain, picturesque. I stand upon the top of it, gazing down upon those who do not have a mountain of their own. How small and insignificant they look. I gaze across the plains, looking at others, those who do have their own mountains, much smaller than mine I say to myself.
I stand on the top of my mountain, and I never leave it. I never notice the cast iron chains I have inadvertently wrought. Since I never try to move off the mountain they are anchored to.
Those without a mountain see only a man chaining himself to the top of a pile of dirt and rocks.
Isn't perspective a wonderful thing.
For myself, my mountain is made up of Pride. Pride in my own intellect. Pride in the self-examining way I live my life. Pride in the person I am.
But from my mountain I can look down on others, assured that they are much smaller than me. Never realising that my mountain is a prison, and I look like a fool.
That's my mountain. What's yours.
Home is where the house is.
Our lives are like houses. What am I getting at? Well houses constantly fall apart. There will always be something that just needs to be a bit better. The same is true of lives. None of us is perfect. There are areas where all of us could be better than we are.
When we have the money and time, we hire a bathroom guy, to fix up that ratty old bathroom, or a painter to repaint those walls, or a builder for that extension. Sometimes if were feeling particularly game, we do more than one of these at a time.
When we have the energy and motivation and time, we try and fix up our lives. Work really hard at changing that niggling bad habit. Try and improve the way we treat others, even those we don't like. Go and see a shrink about our long running depression.
On top of this planned maintenance, there will be disasters. The hot water system exploding, flooding the house. A small grease fire in the kitchen, a major leak in the roof, or a smashed window.
Likewise in our lives we will have minor and major disasters. The death of a loved one. The loss of a job. An argument with a friend.
But through all this there is one thing that is constant. We are never going to be completely happy with our house. There will always be that one thing that needs to be better. Nevertheless we still try our best to fix the things that are wrong. We will never attain the goals. That does not mean we shouldn't try, since the alternative is a house that continually gets more and more run down. And eventually becomes uninhabitable.
A place where no one can live.
On the flip side, it is important to realise that no matter how badly a house has been damaged, whether by earthquake, flood, fire, or a combination of many small things, the house CAN be rebuilt. It will take time, effort and energy, you may need to go right back to the foundations, but any house can be rebuilt.
Don't be Tim “the tool man” Taylor when it comes to your life. It's more important than that.
When we have the money and time, we hire a bathroom guy, to fix up that ratty old bathroom, or a painter to repaint those walls, or a builder for that extension. Sometimes if were feeling particularly game, we do more than one of these at a time.
When we have the energy and motivation and time, we try and fix up our lives. Work really hard at changing that niggling bad habit. Try and improve the way we treat others, even those we don't like. Go and see a shrink about our long running depression.
On top of this planned maintenance, there will be disasters. The hot water system exploding, flooding the house. A small grease fire in the kitchen, a major leak in the roof, or a smashed window.
Likewise in our lives we will have minor and major disasters. The death of a loved one. The loss of a job. An argument with a friend.
But through all this there is one thing that is constant. We are never going to be completely happy with our house. There will always be that one thing that needs to be better. Nevertheless we still try our best to fix the things that are wrong. We will never attain the goals. That does not mean we shouldn't try, since the alternative is a house that continually gets more and more run down. And eventually becomes uninhabitable.
A place where no one can live.
On the flip side, it is important to realise that no matter how badly a house has been damaged, whether by earthquake, flood, fire, or a combination of many small things, the house CAN be rebuilt. It will take time, effort and energy, you may need to go right back to the foundations, but any house can be rebuilt.
Don't be Tim “the tool man” Taylor when it comes to your life. It's more important than that.
