Quote of the Day – February 13 2012

“Perspective – Use It or Lose It. If you turned to this page, you’re forgetting that what is going on around you is not reality.
Think about that.”
–Richard Bach

Perspective

A while back I got into a conversation with my friend Rob. He was having some problems and obviously wanted to discuss them. Like many of us, Rob tends to have a dramatic streak. I think it might be useful to share the conversation as I found that what i told him was inspired (i actually felt the light bulb come on in my head) and gives some much needed perspective:

Rob: My life sucks
Me: What do you mean?
Rob: I can’t get a job. My parents want me out of the house..
Me: that’s rough
Rob: I don’t have a girl I’m SICK of feeling alone. I can’t concentrate when i meditate
Me: Are you just letting what comes out comes out?
Rob: Whatever man. I just want to kill myself. I’m not just saying it either. I’m going to
Me: (Somewhat at a loss) Have you tried talking to anybody?
Rob: Like who? Shrinks are just going to want to medicate me. My friends don’t take anything seriously. Just some people here to talk to. It’s not worth it. I’m just gonna do it. You can read about it in the paper or online tomorrow

At this point I was flailing a bit mentally trying to come up with the right thing to say.
Finally I had a flash

Me: Ok Rob, so you want to do this. To some extent, I believe that people have the right to end if if they want to but before you do I have one question. Do you believe in reincarnation?

Rob: uh..yeah
Me: Have you ever stopped to consider that this might be one of your easier lives and that your next one may be even more challenging?
Long pause
Rob: Fuck you.

Long pause
Rob: 🙂

After that the conversation got a lot lighter and we were able to bounce possible non-lethal solutions to his problem off of each other.

 

Click on image to see full-size

Gazing on the Infinite by G A Rosenberg

Leave a Reply

%d bloggers like this: