Black Pearl of Great Price

A long time ago I heard a story about a man who had learned of a black pearl of great price that had been lost on a particular beach (it could have been just as easily been a red ruby, a green emerald, or the girl of his dream).

The man after finding the beach walked it every day, picking up every black pebble, shell, or small peace of black jetsam he saw. Upon realizing that it was not the black pearl he would through it far into the sea in order to not have to pick it up again.

Years and years went by with the man throwing unwanted objects far into the sea, sometimes hundreds a day. Then came the faithful day and the man’s dream was realized, he stooped and picked a small black object and to his amassment he realized that it was the black pearl he had spend so much of his life looking for that he had just throw far into the sea.

I gained from the story that habit is a very strong master and one should be careful which habits one cultivates. Had the man developed the habit of collection all the objects he collected in a day search and putting them in a pile to remind him of his effort he would have been able to partake of the fruits of his labors, but as the story went he had only the memory that he, how ever briefly, had once held the black pearl of great price.

Hindsight is 20/20 but that does not mean that foresight is blind. Habits are necessary, and a good habit is a good servant. I remember the time back in my youth that I had damaged the left front quarter panel of my car. It was my intention to hit someone who ran a stop sign, or red light in front of me in order to have them pay for the repair. I was given many opportunities, but was unable to avail myself of any of them because before I could think that I needed to hit the asshole, my habit of avoiding collisions took over and forced me to swerve or break and I never was able to hit someone who gave me an opportunity to have them pay for my mistake.

Not all missed opportunities are a bad thing, but the habits we have developed over a life time can blind our eyes to them such that we do not even know that we missed an opportunity until it is way too late to do anything about it.
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Rexx