Sunday, February 9, 2014

Heart of a Spouse

Take a plate, and throw it against the wall, so it shatters.

Now say, "I'm sorry."

Did the plate reassemble itself, so that it was good as new?

The human heart is something like that. Things you say, things you do can shatter a heart, and no amount of apology can ever restore it to what it was.

You can glue a plate back together. Krazy Glue works wonders.

Time and care will let a heart function again, but the scars will always be there.

The only cure is prevention, and the way to prevention is a filter on your words and actions.

Do I really need to say this?

Do I really need to do this?

When you're married, your heart is no longer your own. And your mate's heart is held in your hands.

It's your choice, to cherish it, or in a fit of anger or selfishness or ignorance...or just plain carelessness, to throw it against a wall.

Omar Khayyam said it well -

"The moving finger writes, and having writ, moves on.
Not all your piety nor your wit
will lure it back to cancel half a line,
nor your tears wash out a word of it."

You have freedom of speech.

And you have the obligation to use it wisely, because sometimes the greatest freedom comes from freedom unexercised.

4 comments:

  1. Use is wisely. Those are some wise words :)

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  2. Thanks! There are some hard-learned lessons there.

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  3. What wise words ... to use our freedom of speech wisely. How our homes would morph into safe havens if we did so, day in, day out ...

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    1. Thanks, Linda!

      Al Sever, in his classic memoir "Xin Loi, Viet Nam" describes a near-death experience in which he receives the profound revelation that our life is all about responsibilities - not rights.

      Would that our society would enshrine this!

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