fabulously flawed....

Once a monk was assigned to build a brick wall. Being a monk, he had all the patience he needed for the job. He made sure every single brick was perfect, no matter how long it took.

Eventually, he completed his brick wall and stood back to admire it. It was only then that he noticed he’d missed two bricks. All the other bricks were nicely in line, but these two were inclined at an angle. They spoilt the whole wall. They ruined it. By then, the cement mortar was too hard for the bricks to be taken out, so he asked the abbot if he could knock the wall down and start over again or, even better, perhaps blow it up. The abbot said the wall had to stay.

When he showed the visitors around the monastery, he always tried to avoid taking them past his brick wall. He’d made a mess of it and he was very embarrassed. He hated anyone seeing it.

One day he was walking with a visitor and he saw the wall. “That’s a nice wall,” he casually remarked. “Sir,” he replied in surprise, “have you left your glasses in your car? Are you visually impaired? Can’t you see those two bad bricks which spoil the whole wall?” . The visitor replied, “Yes. I can see those two bad bricks. But I can see all the good bricks as well.”

For the first time the monk could see other bricks in that wall apart from the two bad bricks. Above, below, to the left and to the right of the bad bricks were good bricks, perfect bricks. Moreover, the perfect bricks were many more than the two bad bricks.

When our eyes would focus exclusively on minor mistakes, we become blind to everything else. That was why he couldn’t bear looking at that wall, or having others see it. That was why he wanted to destroy it. Now that he could see the good bricks, the wall didn’t look so bad after all. It was, as the visitor had said, “a nice brick wall.”

In truth, there are more good bricks, perfect bricks, but at times we just can’t see them. Instead, our eyes focus exclusively on the mistakes. The mistakes are all we see, they’re all we think are there— and so we want to destroy them. And sometimes, sadly, we do destroy a “very nice wall.”

How many of us end relationships because all we can see in others are “two bad bricks”?

How many of us become depressed , because all we can see in ourselves are “two bad bricks.”?

How many of us are afraid of opening ourselves to others, because we are afraid that the others will notice our “two bad bricks.”?

How many of us see only the bad bricks in others, when there are more good bricks than bad in them?

We’ve all got our two or more bad bricks, but the perfect bricks, the good bricks in each one of us always outnumber the bad bricks. Once we learn to focus on good bricks, things start to look not so bad. Not only we can live at peace with ourselves, inclusive of our faults, but we can also enjoy living with others in harmony .

Nobody is perfect. We are all fabulously flawed.

I know I am imperfect. But I only read that word as I’mperfect.

Wish everyone a fabulous Day!!!!