1. Apology - "An apology is the superglue of life. It can repair just about anything".
Lynn Johnston is a Canadian cartoonist, born on May 28, 1947, in Collingwood, Ontario. That makes her one of the earliest baby boomers, born right after WWII, just like many of the readers of this blog, not based on actual statistics but based on the readership of the subject matters of my musing that are popularly read; I will have to assume. So, she is a smart 78 year-old lady, seasoned with wisdom and real life's experiences.
Lynn Johnston is best known for her cartoon series, "For Better or For Worse".
The quote says a lot, perhaps, even says it all.
The only thing I can add to it is what I wrote on March 28, 2019, "WE Should Know Better - Marriage Primer No. 1" - one advice I highlighted was about pre-emptying any apology before the need for it happens, I quote below what I wrote then:
Anticipation is better than preparation. Preparing for a defensive position after you did something wrong is exactly that - you are being defensive. But anticipating that you will somehow do something wrong and you are found out (and you will be) is being proactive. The best ever strategy ever put out by one honorable man is that of a husband who each morning before ever doing anything is to look into his wife's beautiful eyes, long before make up and blush-on were applied, and say, "I'm sorry". At the first instance he did that his wife naturally asked, "What for?" And his answer, "For everything I will do wrong today". Since then the ritual worked like clockwork. It was better than clock work. It worked like a charm.
And perhaps, going along with Ms. Johnston's metaphor, like glue, we need to use it while it is still fresh before it begins to dry up. Unapplied glue left to dry loses its utility and so a delayed apology loses its depth and meaning, perhaps even its sincerity. However, it is still better than none at all.
2. Opportunity - "If Your Ship Doesn't Come in, Swim Out To It"
The quote is attributed to comedian Jonathan Winters.
There is not much we can add to that as an inspiration towards going after a dream that seems out of reach but that when opportunity is within sight, it urges us to swim out to it. If I may, I would like to add to it this: But first, make sure you know how to swim.
Indeed, one does not go to engineering school without a good grasp of math and physics; or to medical school without a chemistry and biology background and an aptitude towards the nature of physiology; or, aim to become a teacher without love and patience towards children and young people, but you get the picture. That could explain too why sometimes, one may not get to the ship.
That ship represents just about any dream conceivable to man and woman; the water in-between is every conceivable hindrance and roadblock that is shallow enough for one to wade through, but be mindful that when it gets deeper, one must be prepared to swim. In school, we recall that among our classmates a handful seemed to have waded through easily or swam capably even as the waters got deep but there are those among us who had to try a lot harder to get through algebra or geometry or history.
I would like to make Jonathan Winters inspiration to say:
"If your ship doesn't come in, swim out to it; just make sure first that you know how to swim".
3. One Wish
One day along the seashore, a young man, named Charlie, found a lamp. As he cleaned it of the mud and sand with his hands, a blue smoke came out and a genie appeared. He thanked Charlie for freeing him out of the eight-hundred-year old cocoon that was the lamp and offered to grant him one wish (as every genie story goes).
Genie: Well, young man make your wish please. But first, unlike most genie stories you've heard, I am restricted in my ability to grant a wish and it must adhere to the principle of "Zero-sum-game."
Charlie: What?
Genie: I'll explain as we go along. And you notice too that I don't go by the usual three wishes. Just one, please.
Charlie: Okay, I wish for one trillion dollars.
Genie: Okay, but before you make it your final wish, "Zero-sum-game." means that the one trillion dollars will be taken away from, say, for example, one company that employs a thousand workers. It will go bankrupt in an instant. Families could suffer. Or, that trillion may come from several big non-profit organizations combined, from whom disaster stricken areas or orphanages for children will lose their funding. Instantly, as well. Now you know what "Zero-sum-game." means, right?
Charlie: What kind of genie are you?
Genie: You picked my lamp. So, live with it. And by the way, I have no way of knowing ahead which or what is affected by your wish.
Charlie: Well, at least give me some parameters, okay?
Genie: That is about as simple as I can make it. You're not showing some kind of compassion, are you? You want a trillion dollars? Go ahead and make it your final wish.
Charlie: Okay, I wish for ten more wishes and that is final!
Poof, the genie was sucked back into the lamp which instantly disappeared. In its place was one page of parchment the size of an ordinary bond paper but made of a leather-like material.
Charlie read the writings:
"Your one wish for ten wishes was granted and they are listed below, arranged alphabetically. Be aware that the list covers your one and only one wish. Contrary to what you might have thought, it will not cover for the ten wishes to be fulfilled".
Charlie: Wha-a-a-at?
At that point an old man came by. He said, "What's wrong young man"?
Charlie responded, "I feel cheated. Look", he showed the parchment to the old man.
Old Man: Ah, you too got caught in a technicality.
Charlie: "What do you mean?"
Old Man: You see, and I found this out later, the genie can only be freed completely if your wish had abided by the "Zero-sum-game". You see, if you wished for something that was good for you and there was a corresponding bad thing happening somewhere else, the genie will be free. Your wish to have ten wishes did not call for "Zero-sum-game" to be enforced and that it had no corresponding bad to anyone or anything. Then you made it final. So the genie went back in. He has to wait for who knows when.
Charlie: I don't get it.
Old Man: Trust me. I encountered the same genie a long time ago. Like you, I wanted a wish that had no ill effects on anyone or anything. I wished to live forever because I did not want anything bad to happen to anyone or anything. As soon as I made it final, the genie went back into the lamp. Until you found the lamp again.
Charlie: How long ago was that?
Old Man: This month is my eight hundredth anniversary of living. I watched thirty two generations of people come and go - born and died. So, you see, I should have opted for the "Zero-sum-game" policy. But, like you, I too had a conscience and a dose of compassion. So, I will live forever. I will probably see the genie go through it again but happily he failed to be free because of all who'd rather be compassionate. But you know, I am always rooting for the decent person who finds the lamp so the genie goes back one more time into it. You are a good man Charlie.
Charlie: Yeah, I guess so.
Old Man: And don't forget. You have ten wishes to work on your own, so you have your whole life ahead of you. I know you can do it because you are a decent man. Goodluck and goodbye.
The old man turned away and walked along the water's edge as the sun was setting over the horizon right about over his right shoulder. Charlie smiled. He knew he did the right thing.
P.S. Many scientists and philosophers believe that we inhabit a "Zero-sum-game " universe. Energy to matter, matter to energy, back to energy to matter, light versus darkness, good versus evil in zero sum equivalence on either side of the equation, if, say, light - darkness = 0, energy - matter= 0, etc.
Should we then forget or ignore that a Supreme Being can modify the equation lopsidedly, such as, good - evil = ∞, where good (∞) minus evil (any number, no matter how large) will always be equal to ∞. You see, in math, infinity minus any number (no matter how large you will imagine it to be), the answer is still infinity.
