Paulo Coelho: on pencil

Paulo Coelho: on pencil

'I am writing about you, but more important than the words is the pencil I'm using.'

'But it's just like any other pencil I've ever seen!'

'That depends on how you look at things. It has five qualities which, if you manage to hang on to them, will make you a person who is always at peace with the world.

'[1] First quality: you are capable of great things, but you must never forget that there is a hand guiding your steps. We call that hand God, and He always guides us according His will.

'[2] Second quality: now and then, I have to stop writing and use a sharpener. That makes the pencil suffer a little, but afterwards, he's [she's] much sharper. So, you, too, must learn to bear certain pains and sorrows, because they will make you a better person.

'[3] Third quality: the pencil always allows us to use an eraser to rub out any mistakes. This means that correcting something we did is not necessarily a bad thing.

'[4] Fourth quality: what really matters in a pencil is not its wooden exterior, but the graphite inside. So always pay attention to what is happening inside you.

'[5] Finally, the pencil's fifth quality: it always leaves a mark. In just the same way, you should know that everything you do in life will leave a mark, so try to be conscious of that in your every action.'

(From Paulo Coelho: "Like the Flowing River", HarperCollinsPublishers, translated from the Portuguese by Margaret Jull Costa.)

Of course, God in human form NEVER feels any pain at the shameful meanness and treachery and criminality of opportunistic and unethical human and alien females. But in regard to the advice "Forgive and forget," He may - or He may not - forgive but He NEVER forgets. Also, though He never feels any pain Himself, He may cause pain to females nursing illicit dreams about Him.

Kishalay Sinha [G]