Difficulty in right action

[Qing Tian]

I think the most important message that has come across from virtually all of the replies is that you can only change yourself. This is hard, it takes real effort and perseverance... but it gets easier with time.

My mother and I used to argue terribly. I was a very angry young man. We nearly came to blows on many occasions. At 18 she invited me to leave the family home and I packed a bag and left immediately and without looking back. The first 2-3 years of independent life were tough. Sometimes I don't think we really see what others (particularly family) do for us. How and why they are important in our day to day lives. Anyway, that separation lengthened and the ill-will between us lessened until we suddenly realised that we both wanted each other in our lives. Despite being half a world away now I have a great relationship with my mother. The sense of a bond between is stonger than I ever would have imagined. She is getting old now. Nearly 80 and I realise as I am writing this that I will miss her terribly, and a sense regretful shame looms when I consider how I behaved toward as a youth. Not wallowing in emotion, merely acknowledging it.

There are many stories about (particularly) young men who fall out with their fathers and then, at the father's bedside, as he lies dying or dead, is the realisation that it was not worth it but now it is too late.

Don't be that person.

I know Gibran isn't a Buddhist text but I have often wondered where he got his ideas from. Perhaps one day I shall read about his life and not just the words he wrote.

Excerpt from 'Giving' (The Prophet)

It is well to give when asked, but it is better to give unasked, through understanding;
And to the open-handed the search for one who shall receive is joy greater than giving.
And is there aught you would withhold?
All you have shall some day be given;
Therefore give now, that the season of giving may be yours and not your inheritors'.