precipitating patience

"Disappointments are to the soul what the thunder-storm is to the air." This is a quote from Friedrich von Schiller. I appreciate axiomatic imagery, because it opens our understanding in the way that we knew first- pictures. Before any of us could read we looked at the pictures. This quote says to me that diappointment releases the storm and everything that's been held at odds in the electricity of the air. Experientially, I know this to be true, though I'm trying my hardest not to be so stormy when the disappointments come. And they will come.

Robert Burns said that "Suspense is worse than disappointment." If you are determined to be given to hope, then this cannot be true, for in the hoping there is always a spark of possible fulfillment. In disappointment there is only the task of rebuilding or walking away. Maybe Robert Burns was wired differently.

Richard Nixon, one of my personal heros, said, "The greatness comes not when things go always good for you. But the greatness comes when you're really tested, when you take some knocks, some disappointments, when sadness comes." Man, don't you wish the path to greatness was paved by people saying nice things about you and easy successes all around? But what is greatness, if it is not tested? Untested potential. Just a seed waiting to winter hardship until it's proven. I'm so sleepy now. It's been a quiet, rainy day here in Oregon, and I've spent it very much like a cat. Minus the sleeping part. Goodnight, comrades.