"From whom is this white rose, whose silence mirrors my future soon to be?" asked the
woman going deaf. "This rose is from He who makes all sounds, raucous and sweet, and calls
me 'Ariel’, and I give it to you for I cannot feel its thorns or its petals." answered the old woman.
"Push my bed once more, now unto the person by the door, whose very life is
fleeing." said the old woman, and the youngest of the thinkers obeyed her yet again, and pushed her bed
unto the door. "Here is a rose, given unto you." said the old woman, yet
again. "From whom is this red rose, whose color is the blood flowing ever slower in my
body?" asked the person dying by the door. "This rose is from Jesus, who recieves unto
Himself all who believe upon Him, and I give it to you for I cannot smell it myself." answered the old
woman. "Blessed be you for your mercy, and for the perfume to fill my nostrils during my
dying breaths," replied the other. "Tell me more of Him who sent this rose."
And the thinkers and tinkerers were amazed when they saw this, and deeply
perturbed. "Surely we have made some mistake in our designs, and our machine is faulty, for
certainly those whose minds are not right cannot know their circumstances, and therefore cannot be
included." And they left to their theories and ideas, not willing to live with the knowledge
they had gained. Yet the youngest of the thinkers stayed at the home, and asked the old
woman, "Surely, you are cursed beyond all men. How then keep you this joy you
display?"
"Surely I am not cursed," replied she, "I am blessed with hearing, however
distant, and speech, however hard, and my seasons upon the earth have been long. He who
comforts me on this earth waits for me to come home, this have I been blessed to know."
And the youngest of the thinkers stayed in the colorless country, and brought
color to it, and he learned more about the joys and the sorrows of men than any of his companions who
deplarted unto their own land.
Where does happiness come from?
Joel TPW says:
Well I think happiness is somewhat controlled by personality which obviously is influenced by a lot of things. A optimist may feel happy more of the time, but this is not a set rule. I find happiness in the unexpected. In a sense then I can not control happiness. I can't sit down and say today I will be more happy. I need an outside force to cause the unexpected. For example if I recieve an unexpected package, or a letter from a friend I haven't talked to in a long time. I think life experience can have a small amount of influence in the matter. Not only does life experience help shape personality it may lead to a more "filling" life, but again this is not a set rule. Obviously material gain has little to do with happiness in fact it may be a cause of unhappiness, you have more things to worry about, or more to remind you that even though you have a lot of wealth no real happiness.
When you exceed a goal or have an extra-ordinary day that is where I find happiness.
Eric says:
Good thoughts. I agree with you, at least mostly, but I think that there is also an ability for someone to choose to be happy or to choose to
find a good thing in a situation regardless of the outside influences. I know that I personally do not tend to do this, but I think it is
possible. I like the idea of finding happiness in the unexpected though.