リチャード ニブリー
On a recent morning, I was walking through the neighborhood after a light rain. I noticed something up ahead in my path. It was about a foot long and straight. I thought, Is it a stick? Is it a piece of metal or plastic? I'd never seen anything quite it before. The closer I got to the object, it became clear that it was not a stick or piece of metal. When I bent closer to look, I found to my surprise that it was a worm. Yes!! A worm!!
You know how worms come out of the ground after the rain, right? Well, this worm had come out and was trying to cross the road. I could see that it was still alive and was trying to move ahead. It was all stretched out straight and was doing its best to struggle to get back into the ground.
However, this worm was facing a major problem!! It was going in the wrong direction!! My heart went out to this poor worm. He's going the wrong direction. He doesn't have much energy. He's not going to make it to his goal -- the other side of the road. He could get run over. But worse still, he doesn't even know he's going in the wrong direction.
I realized that the only thing for me to do was to help the poor creature. I found a stick to lift him up. When I tried to put the stick under him, he wriggled wildly and fell off my stick. It took several tries to get him to stay on to my stick. I succeeded and moved him to safety on some leaves. I stayed to watch if he would recognized where he was. Fortunately, he felt he was back in the right neighborhood. He could smell dirt. And after a few seconds, he started to move his head down towards the dirt. I continued to watch as he slithered down in between some leaves making his way towards the dirt. He was home. He would be OK.
After my little encounter with the worm, I realized that this is very much like experiences we have in our lives. We get out on the wrong road; going the wrong direction; running out of energy; risk getting run over; and we don't even know that we are going in the wrong direction.
Sometimes it takes someone to help us get back going the right direction in the right neighborhood. When that special someone comes to our aid, express thanks for the help they give. Even though at the time, you may try to wriggle yourself away from their help, let people help you when you need help. Then go out and help someone get on the right road going the right direction.
Send me a message at info@usadejapan.com
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