LMAO! As I was reading the story I thought "Those hoppers are probably damn near unconscious from banging their heads against the box." Then, when you spoke of how easily they were removed from the box, I thought sure enough, the hoppers had knocked themselves silly. At that point I figured the lesson of the story was not to "bang your head" uselessly against an immovable obstacle or you might wind up as "fishbait!"
Hey, it's been a long day.
Nate
"Now enriched with Niacin"
The Grasshopper 'IN' The Shoe Box
by Golf 34 Replies latest jw experiences
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Nate Merit
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Golf
Nate, thanks for the humor. This conditioning also applies to a fly in a covered jar. Once we 'condition' ourselves to certain things its only a matter of time before 'complacency' sets in.
How many times have we heard, you can't fight city hall, if you can't beat em', join em'. Well join em' and 'then' beat em'.
Golf -
AK - Jeff
Perhaps the paradox is in the unknown. Most of us were conditioned to stay in the box due to fear of what was outside.
Outside lies freedom, but having not experienced outside the box we don't really know what that means till we jump out of the box and experience that freedom. If we jump out to experience it, then we might not be able to return to the saftey of the box, or will only do so as 'damaged goods'. Purity will be gone for us, and the community will not allow us to integrate again.
Fear of leaving the box is crippling to many. I was a 'chirper' for a long time before I jumped out of the box. I think most are. Some will jump out no matter how well conditioned they are.
BTW, Golf, I too found my freedom though involvement with golf. It is now my passion. And it was my road to freedom.
Jeff
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Golf
AK-Jeff, playing golf does wonders, especially after you've played it awhile. There's plenty of similarities to life. People who don't play the game can't relate to the similarities.
I've known certain golfers who jinx themselves. They would love to shoot a particular score but can't. There was this one golfer who always wanted to break 80, one day while playing, he forgot all about his score and just played the game. Well, when the game was over and he tabulated his strokes, it was 79! He surprised himself. We can prevent ourselves from moving ahead by thinking to much or by putting pressure on ourselves. There are other reasons but the end result is the same.
Thanks for your comments.
Golf -
sweet tee
As long as you hold to your anger, resentment, etc you cannot heal, you cannot go forward, you stay in the box of your own making, example: you meet that someone that you harbor bad feelings for, that person has not a clue as to how you feel, he's happy and unconcerned. Solution: Forgive! Not for his sake (because he's totally unawares) but for yours, it is your spirt that needs peace."
I used to feel this way too golf, but like nilfin, I've learned that forgiveness doesn't always bring peace. I have to accept my true feelings and deal with them. Forcing down feelings of legitimate anger and resentment aren't healthy for me.
For example, I tried, tried and tried to forgive my ex for ignoring our children and hurting them in his stupid attempt to hurt me ... it wasn't until I exploded on him and told him how I really feel about his behavior that I could stop b****ing about him to my friends every chance I got. Now when I think about him it's like ... nothing ... no need to rant. I'm done. I don't even feel the anger and hatred (whatever that is) I felt before.
But not everyone deals with things the same way. That's why everyday I try to find solutions that work for me. I can only live MY life and I want to live it to the fullest. That's why I hopped my happy a** out that JW box .
sweet tee