- I walk through what is natural, until the time comes to sink
down and rest. To entrust my last breath to the source of my
daily breathing, fall on the source of my father’s seed, of my
mother’s blood, of my nurse’s milk. Of my daily food and
drink through all these years. What sustains my footsteps, and
the use I make of it—the many uses. - No one could ever accuse you of being quick-witted.
All right, but there are plenty of other things you can’t
claim you “haven’t got in you.” Practice the virtues you can
show: honesty, gravity, endurance, austerity, resignation,
abstinence, patience, sincerity, moderation, seriousness,
high-mindedness. Don’t you see how much you have to offer
—beyond excuses like “can’t”? And yet you still settle for
less.
Or is it some inborn condition that makes you whiny and
grasping and obsequious, makes you complain about your
body and curry favor and show off and leaves you so
turbulent inside?
No. You could have broken free a long way back. And
then you would have been only a little slow. “Not so quick
on the uptake.”
And you need to work on that as well—that slowness. Not
something to be ignored, let alone to prize.