A Story I Saved 4 Years Ago...
By sr0415
@sr0415 (1140)
Philippines
August 13, 2007 8:17pm CST
Yesterday, I was reading the entries I made in my diary and found this story dated sometime in 2003. This story really touched me and is one of the first stories where I value some of life's lessons. :)
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THE MISSING PIECE
This is the story of a circle that was missing a piece. A large triangular wedge had been cut out of it. The circle wanted to be whole with nothing missing, so it went around looking for its missing piece. But because it was incomplete and therefore could roll only very slowly, it admired the flowers along the way. It chatted with worms. It enjoyed the sunshine. It found lots of different pieces, but none of them fit. So it left them all by the side of the road and kept on searching.
Then one day, the circle found a piece that fit perfectly. It was so happy. Now it could be whole, with nothing missing. It incorporated the missing piece into itself and began to roll. Now that it was a perfect circle, it could roll very fast, too fast to notice the flowers or talk to the worms. When it realized how different the world seemed when it rolled so quickly, it stoppped, left its found piece by the side of the road and rolled slowly away.
The lesson of the story was that in some strange sense, we are more whole when we are missing something. The man who has everything is in some ways a poor man. He will never know what it feels like to yearn, to hope, to nourish his soul with the dream of something better. He will never know the experience of having someone who loves him give him something he has always wanted and never had.
Life is not a trap set for us by God so that He can condemn us for failing. Life is not a spelling bee, where no matter how many words you've gotten right, you're disqualified if you make one mistake. Life is more like a baseball season, where even the best team loses one-third of its games and even the worst team has its days of brilliance. Our goal is to win more games than we lose.
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Have a great Tuesday everyone! :)
God bless! \(",)_
2 people like this
5 responses
@thefortunes (2367)
• Netherlands
14 Aug 07
Wow Sr0415
What a great story you have shared with us here, thank you! And it did give me to think actually, quite a bit...
How come we get tired of yearning for better circumstances in our life, tired to have hopes for better this and better that, and when we have it, after a few hours, or at most a day - we don't even care about it anymore, and start hoping for something else? This is what troubles me, that we do so much to get something and when we finally have it - we don't even care for it. The truth is - we are never satisfied, no matter how much we achieve, we keep hoping to achieve more, better, bigger, and we never seem to have enough. On one side our striving is commandable, but on the other side, it's so stupid, as most of "stuff" and "things" that we are after, do not give the satisfaction we were hoping to achieve...Don't you think?
1 person likes this
@sr0415 (1140)
• Philippines
14 Aug 07
Hi thefortunes! :) Your post made me think to. As always, I say that it's because most of us are never contented. And this statemend, as I learned years later, is easier said than done. We tend to look for more and what lies after and while we're busy doing this, we forget what really matters. And that sometimes, the happiness and contentment we are looking for are just at the tip of our nose and just so close for our eyes to see.
Take care and God bless! =)
@sr0415 (1140)
• Philippines
14 Aug 07
Hi thefortunes! :) Both perspectives on yearning to make yourself better and having the sense of contentment inside your heart are two different things, but just has a "thin line" difference. (Whoooa! It's soooo DEEP! hehe) We always want to make ourselves better - always ask for more out of life. But we tend to just forget that the essential things are the simplest things - like a conversation with a friend you haven't seen in years, a time with your family, heartfelt laughters, and so on.. :)
We tend to make ourselves busy, and we become so busy that we forget those who are essential. :) As everybody says, "Take time to smell the flowers."
God bless! (",)
@thefortunes (2367)
• Netherlands
14 Aug 07
How true what you are saying Sr0415... and how could we (you, me, and others) be able to see what is in front of our nose, if we never stop looking for what is behind the horizon? It's good that we keep yearning for more, it really is, OR WE WOULDN'T HAVE COME AS FAR AS WE NOW ARE...imagine life without computers, and without the Internet for that matter, how could we deal with that, in such a case ;) LOL...It keepa a great conversationreally, and one that doesn't have an end :)
1 person likes this
@gorgzlady1904 (84)
• Philippines
31 Aug 07
I love this short story. It makes me realize how humans complained alot when they're searching for something that could make their lives complete, especially when they couldn't see what they're searching. They don't realize that the journey to finding what they want is already making them complete. That's why when they found what they're looking for they feel indifferent towards that something that they thought would make them "complete".
Life is hard, that's for sure. We dream alot and wish alot. To the point that we don't appreciate what's around us anymore. The truth is, whatever our life offers now, we should make the most out of it because a time spent on discontentment and sadness is wasted time. So while we're still breathing, why don't we enjoy the wagon as we journeyed along. After all, we don't know what awaits us, right?
@DavidReedy (2378)
• United States
14 Aug 07
I like this parable. Very awesome story. Thank you.
1 person likes this
@faith210 (11224)
• Philippines
14 Aug 07
Hi sr0415! Once again, that was an inspiring story. Really love reading your topics. I guess that's why we have tears, in order for us to know the true meaning of joy. We need need to feel pain,loneliness,sufferings to appreciate comfort... we need to feel weak in order for us to cherish strength...and we need to feel incomplete to feel how it is to be complete. Haha...am I making sense? Have a nice day and take care.
