posted October 30, 2004 11:49 PM           

The resulting hole was ugly and very noticeable. A few came by and said, "What is wrong with you? What have you done? Why did you put a hole in your neighbors' wall? What have they done to you?"

Very soon after, the man realized that his actions were driven by a deep pain he suffered due to betrayal earlier that day by someone unknown to the hapless neighbors.

Right then and there, the man decided he must patch the wall. His neighbors didn't deserve to pay the consequences for another's deceptions.

The man set about patching the wall, but soon a few of those who had seen the original hole said, "What are you trying to do? Are you trying to hide what you have done from your neighbors? You coward! Face the consequences! Leave the hole there for your neighbors to see so that they can know what a rotten thing you've done."

The man ignored them, for he knew that his neighbors didn't deserve this, and he felt truly regretful for having lashed out at an innocent for the crimes of another. And so he went about trying to patch the hole.

Not long passed before those who had seen the hole arrived with a neighbor whose wall had been damaged.

"See? See? What he's done?!" they said to the man's neighbor, "he put a hole in your wall!"

The neighbor looked, and couldn't see the hole that had been made, only a patched section.

While this made it apparent that damage had been done, it didn't give much indication of the hole, it's size, it's depth or its ugliness.

Seeing his neighbor, the offender asked that he be forgiven, explaining that he hadn't meant to disrespect anyone, he had lashed out blindly...stupidly.

The neighbor shook his head and said, "How can I forgive you? I can't even tell what the extent of the damage was."

The man was silent, for he didn't know how to answer that.

"No", continued the man's neighbor, "I'm afraid you'll have to show me what the hole looked like, or there will be no end to this situation."

The man looked back in disbelief, for he knew what he was being asked to do. He was being asked to show the ugly hole to his neighbor, and he'd just finished removing it.

"Yea you coward! Punch the wall again...make the hole, be a man!", shouted the crowd shaking their heads in disgust at him, some as curious as the neighbor to see what the hole had looked like.

The man looked at them, apologized once more, then walked away.

My apologies again, what I did was wrong.

Be well, and I'll see you around, here and elsewhere.

With sincere regret for my actions,

posted October 31, 2004 01:14 AM         

You have made yourself quite clear. What you seem to be missing is that you have not just punched a hole in the wall of one neighbor, from the sounds of it, you went through the neighborhood and punched holes in the walls of several neighbors. The reality of it is on a much grander scale than you made it out to be.

posted October 31, 2004 08:58 AM         

May you Move past what/whoever has hurt your Heart.

God/Dess Bless you.

Love,

posted October 31, 2004 05:56 PM         

Sorry, the analogy didn't work for me. You didn't punch holes in any walls, you poisoned people.

Heck, I wasn't even offended. Never was, and I'm not now.

Just curious. Still am. It's not important, it's not a contest, and you're not going to share, so I'll pretty much put it all to bed. I don't need to read the original to understand its essence.

posted November 03, 2004 03:39 AM         

At the first gate we ask ourselves,"Are these words true?"

If so we let them pass on; if not, back they go.

At the second gate, we ask, "Are they necessary?"

At the last gates, we ask, "Are they kind?"

(Eknath Easwaran)

posted November 03, 2004 07:27 AM         

But I do think that Daf realised his words had got passed the third gate, rounded them up and put them all back where they belonged. To err is human, to forgive divine

Love

posted November 03, 2004 11:06 AM         

By this, are you implying you believe Daf's words were true, necessary, and kind even though he "pulled them back"?

posted November 03, 2004 11:19 AM         

What I actually said was "But I do think that Daf realised his words had got passed the third gate, rounded them up and put them all back where they belonged."

What I implied is that whatever Dafs words were he realised he had allowed them passed all these check points when in fact they should have been stopped at gate 1.

After he had allowed them past all 3 of the gates he realised his mistake, hence why I say "to err is human" so he retracted his words and put them where they should have stayed, he apologised for his actions. Hence why I say "To forgive is divine"

As you say "I'll assume that last post up there is directed at Daf's nastiness because (I'm quite sure) it was A untrue, B unnecessary, and C unkind."

I will assume you never even read his words. I on the other hand did and stand by my statement that his words are now where they should have stayed.