There is a quote by Aesop, in which he says, “Plodding wins the race.” I believe he felt so strongly about this notion, that he wrote a catchy little story about such a thing. Something about a mindless rabbit, running crazy all over the place. And his pal, a turtle, who just kept walking along, staying focused, all the way to the end.
I’m pretty sure that’s how it went. But the moral of the story was slow and steady wins the race. Steady as she goes.
That’s what I’ve been saying to myself lately. Be calm, be steady. While watching the news last evening concerning the latest Covid-19 updates, the tenured physician, with his high levels of expertise, reminded us, “This is not a sprint. This is a marathon.” Plodding wins the race.
Steady. I try not to blow my top. I get very frustrated with all the people in our country, who are not taking things seriously. They fail to listen to the experts, the doctors, the scientists. Like this is all some grand conspiracy set out to take their rights. I’ve long said that a great deal of the American population are lemmings. They follow the head lemming until they are all jumping off the cliff, saying, what the flock? Hopefully, they aren’t dragging along any innocent bystanders when they take that plunge over the rocky edge.
I just read a historical blurb that dated back to 1644, when 200 members of Peking imperial family and court committed suicide. All of this, in loyalty to the Emperor. I thought of our country and Covid-19.
Certainly, I won’t go into any cute analogies here, like, “Our minds are like parachutes, they work better when they are open.” Albeit, the truth.
However, I was standing in the kitchen, listening to a woman on the TV, laboring over the fact that her children are having to miss their playdates. Recent findings are showing now that those children may be the most problematic spreaders, never being symptomatic. They are taking it right to their parents, and worse yet, grandparents. I take a deep breath, steady, plodding.
But standing there, I was reminded of my father, standing in our kitchen so many times, coffee cup in hand, reciting a passage or a poem, and in this minute, it was Rudyard Kipling.
“If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs… “
My dad was slow, always plodding. He was one of the most peaceful, and virtuous people, I’ve ever known in my life. An everyday hero, walking through life with immeasurable principles.
I asked him for some help.
We all need a little help these days. It seems this is going to be the long haul, our new way of life for a while. So, we give help when we can. And. We accept help when we need it. This virus, if nothing else, has shown us just how very, very, connected our entire planet is. And if we open our minds we see it goes one step further. How connected we are in the Universe. The endless energy, never being created, nor destroyed.
Plod a little today. I think it might be best.
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“Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone.”
― John Quincy Adams
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“You have to choose the best, every day, without compromise…guided by your own virtue and highest ambition”
― Phillipa Gregory
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“But what is liberty without wisdom and without virtue? It is the greatest of all possible evils; for it is folly, vice, and madness, without tuition or restraint. Those who know what virtuous liberty is, cannot bear to see it disgraced by incapable heads, on account of their having high-sounding words in their mouths.”
― Edmund Burke
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