A Chinese Farmer Taught Me a Life Lesson I’ll Never Forget
Wisdom that changed me
When I was younger I heard Baz Lurhmann say:
“Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t. Maybe you’ll have children, maybe you won’t. Maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the ‘Funky Chicken’ on your 75th wedding anniversary.
Whatever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much. Or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance, and so are everybody else’s…”
And:
“Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you wanna do with your life; the most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives; some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don’t.”
My young mind loved this when I first heard it because it gave me a new perspective and it was something I carried with me for years. Clearly, I still draw upon the wisdom even now.
Maybe 15 years after that first listen — at a time when I stepped on a spiritual path — I came across an ancient parable that comes from China which also left an equally impactful impression on me.
It goes a little something like this:
