There is an old Zulu legend about a traveller who gets a thorn stuck in his foot. The wise man plucks it out – the fool leaves it there as a reminder of his journey.
A recent car journey made me think of the story again. The driver of our car was complaining that the person behind was tailgating. Even though there were numerous opportunities to pull over and let the other vehicle pass, our driver instead spent the next 20 minutes getting more and more wound up about the behaviour of the car behind us.
Incredibly, he was still grumbling about it the next day.
I’m sure we have all done this at various times, but next time you find yourself in a tricky situation take a few moments to see if there is something you can do about it, rather than just complaining. Even if it wasn’t your fault – nothing you did caused the situation – there is always something you can do to change it.
Going back to the Zulu … had the traveller removed the thorn, he could have remembered that journey with pleasure, rather than pain.
Find the thorns in your life and take the time to remove them, rather than letting them be pushed deeper and deeper.
