Persistence

Tell you a story...

This is an ancient Greek story. A man in heaven was sent to world to do his punishment as he have done something wrong in heaven. The punishment for him is: Take a stone uphill everyday.

However, each time when he took the stone to the top of the hill, the stone would slide to the bottom of the hill. No matter for how many times he have tried, he still failed to bring the stone to the top of the hill.

That was the punishment God wanted to give him: Infinite failure. That was to torture his mind so that he would live forever in suffer. At the beginning, the man still felt upset with the failures. Yet, he soon realized that he couldn't let himself live between success and failure because that was meaningless for him. He should take the stone without any desire to succeed. No matter how was the result, he still needed to take the stone to the hill. That was the spirit of persistence.

Days by days, God finally realized that the punishment couldn't have any effect on him. It couldn't penalize him anymore. God had to release him from the punishment and allow him to return to heaven.

What does the story actually want to tell? What do we understand by the term 'persistence'?

I am sure that everyone used to have their own dreams. However, only a few of them can really realize their dreams and the others give up half way. I am sure that everyone must have put efforts for their own dreams. Yet, do the efforts last till the end?

When we start to dream something and put our plans in work, we may work hard at the beginning. What we want is:success. However, when we still cannot get anything from our efforts or we cannot get the result that we want, we may feel disappointed and we ourselves may halve our efforts. That is what the man from heaven experienced at the beginning he faced failure in taking the stone uphill.

Didn't he hope that he could take the stone uphill without facing any difficulty? Didn't he hope success? Actually,he did. What he did was not putting too much attention on the result he wanted to get. He just put all his efforts in taking the stone uphill. He just did what he needed to do.

If we put too much attention on the result that we want to get, we will get ourselves into the wheel 'success' and 'failure' until we cannot put attention on our efforts. Our emotions will be easily affected by any change. Even a small failure can make us disappointed.

Another story...

A hunter walked into a forest to hunt some animals. When he stepped into a bush, he saw a fox laying on there. The fox looked like waiting for something. The hunter approached to the fox and asked it: What are you doing here?

The fox replied: I am waiting for a rabbit. It used to passed here. I want to get that as my food.

The hunter stood there for a while and then left.

On the following day, the hunter went to the forest again. He still saw the same fox laying there. He approached the fox and then asked: What are you doing here?

The fox looked at him and then replied: I am still waiting for the rabbit. The hunter didn't say anything about this and then left.

On the third day, the hunter still saw the same fox laying there when he went to the forest. He walked to the fox and then threw a dead rabbit to it and said: This is for you!

The fox suddenly stood up and threw the dead rabbit to the hunter and said to the hunter angrily: Do you think i am a beggar? Do you think my purpose of staying here for three days is just waiting for your dead rabbit?

The hunter felt a little strange with this fox and then asked: Don't you stay here for waiting for your food? I just don't want you to die of starvation.

The fox stepped forward and said: Right! I stay here for waiting for my food. Although i still get nothing for three days, i didn't regret at all. You have to know: only human will hope for success like a beggar from their usual mistakes. In my term, there is no success and no failure at all. The only thing for me is:waiting.

The hunter then asked: Will you still feel satisfied if you get nothing from your efforts?

The fox said: Although i get nothing, i still can enjoy the fresh air surrounding me. I can enjoy in watching the beautiful scene during spring season. They are also what i get from my efforts. I won't get nothing from my efforts. At least i won't regret as i have put in my efforts before.

Do you get what the fox mean?