Never to late.

Along the Path

not far from me on the site, I am at are two families one couple has one son the other two. Both of the fathers have been a wonderful model of attentive parents. They have spent much time with the boys teaching them how to throw boules how to cast a fishing fly. They have also gone walking with them and encouraged them in so many ways.

Having raised two children myself I am aware that it is no easy task to raise a child to attain their potential. As I watch these two fathers I remember my own father and the time he spent with me and the many lessons he taught. I think he made a very good attempt at making me a fairly good human being. But the work goes on.

My father often said to me in his own quiet way, "Do not do what I do, do what I ask you to do." What a very valuable lesson to learn. I heard him saying that to me this morning. The sage tells a story that makes the same point. 

The story goes: There was once a child who when rebuked for doing something turned to his father and said, "But dad you do the exact same thing." 

The father on hearing this for about the third or fourth time got the sons jacket and the two of them walked to the local carvers workplace. As they entered the yard there were many great blocks of camphor and rosewood and cedar. 

Inside the shed, the carver was working carving deities all at various stages of completion. Some of the gods still had the marks of the chisel visible while others were now smooth and brightly painted, some gilded. Each in its own way a masterpiece of workmanship.

The father looked around as did the son. After a bit, the father turned the young lad to face him and said, "I am older than you, so I am more like one of those unfinished statues. I have my accomplishments and successes, but I also have my faults. Once this figure has been carved, we cannot change the position of the arms."

"But you, my son, are like those large pieces of wood out there in the yard. You still have to take shape. I do not want you to have the same faults as I have. So there are times when I stop you from doing certain things. You say that I do some things I do not let you do, does that not show you how hard it is to undo a mistake once it is carved into your inner being?

Do not copy me and do not make the same mistakes that I did. 

Only then, my son, will you become an even better human being than I am."

Thank goodness the father was to some small extent not one hundred per cent correct. it is never ever too late to break the habits of a lifetime. I spoke to a man from the Netherlands yesterday who told me he had stopped smoking three years ago and wished he had never started. I wished him well. 

it is never too late to learn.

Have a great day.