You're Right!
There is a scene from Fiddler on the Roof that has taught me more about life than most holy books I've read.
In it, two men are heatedly arguing over the age of a horse. When they see Tevye, the town milkman/sage, walking by, they begin passionately pleading their case.
"Tevye!" blurts the first, "I've been cheated! Last month I bought a horse from this sorry excuse for a man. He told me the horse was six years old, but it is 12!"
Tevye listens carefully, strokes his beard, nods his head, and smiles. "You're right!" he says.
"What!" screams the second. "No way! Not true! The horse I sold him was six years old and I have the papers to prove it!"
Again, Tevye listens, strokes his beard, nods his head, and smiles. "You're right!" he says.
A third man, who'd been watching the argument from the beginning, boldly steps forward.
"Tevye... with all due respect for your great insight and wisdom, how can he be right" (pointing the the first) "and he be right" (pointing to the second).
Tevye listens, strokes his beard, nods his head, and smiles. "You're right!
Then he starts dancing like a madman.
Next time you think you're right... remember Tevye.
Life is full of paradox, contradiction, and seeming dissonance. See if you can dance your way through it without making anyone wrong. Look for the sweet spot -- or what Rumi once referred to as "the field beyond right doing and wrong doing."
Comments
Dear Mitch:
You're Right!....
Posted by: JJPEREZK at May 24, 2009 01:05 PM
JJ: You're right!
Posted by: Mitch Ditkoff at May 24, 2009 01:30 PM
Dear Mitch:
You're still Right!....
Posted by: Jjperezk at August 5, 2018 08:26 PM
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