March 14, 2010, Profound Thought
On this insanely rainy and unpleasant weekend here in the New York area, we give you this "profound thought" (from a chapter entitled "Profound Thought Number 15") from The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery:
I understood that I was suffering because I couldn't make anyone else around me feel better. I understood that I have a grudge against... [them] because I'm incapable of being useful to them, because there's nothing I can do for them. They are already too fargone in their sickness, and I am too weak. I can see their symptoms clearly but I'm not skilled to treat them and so as a result that makes me as sick as they are, only I don't see it.... And one thing is sure, no matter what: I won't get any better by punishing the people I can't heal.