My signature line is from Rabindranath Tagore:
You cannot cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.
Now, Tagore could have said, "If you want something don't just stand there, go for it." But his way of saying it is so much better, don't you think?
I have a fondness for proverbs, sayings, fables and other forms of folk wisdom.
When I was about ten years old, I was given a book of Aesop's Fables. I loved them. My favourite was the story of the fox and the grapes:
One hot summer's day a Fox was strolling through an orchard till he came to a bunch of Grapes just ripening on a vine which had been trained over a lofty branch. "Just the thing to quench my thirst," quoth he. Drawing back a few paces, he took a run and a jump, and just missed the bunch. Turning round again with a One, Two, Three, he jumped up, but with no greater success. Again and again he tried after the tempting morsel, but at last had to give it up, and walked away with his nose in the air, saying: "I am sure they are sour."
Many times over the years that story gave me comfort and perspective when someone who just could not be happy for me responded with a "sour grapes" comment. Have there been scornful foxes in your life? How did you handle them?
I can relate to this not-so-old saying very well:
You do not fully understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother.
I know that my little grandson, not quite two years old, will have to explain a lot of things to me. It has actually started already. I could not figure out how to get the cable connection on their TV. I pushed every button on the remote while he quietly watched. Then he hopped down off the sofa, went over and pushed a button on the side of the TV and climbed back up beside me. He looked at me as if to say, "It's OK Grandma, I know you're old." I hope he will always be so patient.
One of my favourite sayings is a Russian proverb :
Up a hill you push a cart; down the hill, it rolls.
There is some justice in this world.
But not enough.
This seems to apply more and more often in our daily news doesn't it? For Trayvon Martin, for those affected by the gulf oil spill, and many others, there is some justice, but not enough.
So, what do you think of this proverb? Is there enough justice in the world?
Maybe you would like to share your favourite sayings and adages with us. What are the words of wisdom that help you through tough times? Or, as this is an open thread, tell us about whatever is on your mind this evening.
Because as the saying goes:
Shared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is half sorrow
Welcome or welcome back to Kitchen Table Kibitzing, a community series that posts nightly at 8:00 Eastern. remembrance and nomandates came up with the idea for this series during Netroots Nation 13.
As we envision it, KTK is a community for those who wish to share part of their evening around a virtual kitchen table with kossacks who are caring and supportive of one another. So bring your stories, jokes, photos, funny pics, music, interesting videos (hey, palantir!), and so forth. We would also appreciate links—including quotations—to diaries, news stories, and books that you think this community would appreciate.
Please note that pie fights will be unwelcome in this community, just as in most other series at DKos. There's lots of space at the rest of the site for fighting with other Democrats, progressives, and liberals, and we don't want those battles dragged into this series.
Finally, readers may notice that most who are posting diaries and comments in this series already know one another to some degree, but that definitely does not mean that newcomers will be excluded or unwelcome. We're happy to welcome guests to our kitchen table, and hope to make some new friends as well.