I saw him from a distance. He was wandering, clearly lost, searching for something.
I approached him and asked, can I help you? What are you looking for?
Her. He responded.
Her who? Asked I, still wishing to be of assistance.
I don't know, really. Just her.
Okay. I hope you find her.
He looked in shop windows, he look around corners. He looked in alley ways, and on roof tops. He went into the ice cream store, and the pizza shop. He stood in the street and glanced at every car that passed by. But he didn't seem to find her.
Who are you looking for? I asked him again.
Her, he replied, quite frustrated and dejected now.
So what's the matter?
I can't find her! He answered in frustration.
I shook my head sadly, and said to him: dear boy, you can't find her, because you are looking for the wrong person. Don't look for her. Look for yourself, and then you will find her. Because she owns the other half of your soul.
His face cleared in understanding, and he turned and slowly walked away.
I hope he finds himself. I hope he finds her. I hope they find each other.
If only there was a Like Button.... :)
ReplyDelete:) Maybe suggest it to blogger, and theyll create it.
ReplyDeleteGo to facebook, its in my notes. you can 'like' it there.
nah. they couldnt do it. Its trademarked.
ReplyDeleteNicely written.
ReplyDeleteI had to laugh when I read this. Last month, two of my Rabbi's both went to two very Jew heavy places, NY and Israel. I jokingly said to both of them, saying "if you find my Beshert, Rabbi, can you please bring her home?" They both replied, almost verbatim, "when you find yourself, you will find your beshert." Your story reminded me of that, and I just had to laugh.
ReplyDeleteJacques Barzun said:“Finding oneself was a misnomer; a self is not found but made”
ReplyDeleteWhat does finding -or even making- of self mean? To know your place in life? To know what you believe and where your boundaries are?
Dont leave us hanging like that Altie, assuming we all know what finding self means. ELABORATE :-)
Oh, and i agree with LANYF
ReplyDeleteLost- thanks, I woke up today thinking, why the heck did I post that? It's one of those things that shouldve gone into the bin. So, glad you like it.
ReplyDeleteDaniel, you wrote that comment before, so I'm sure you were one of my inspirations.
Big n8t- we had a teacher who was trying to explain it to us. You know what finding yourself is? good, then tell me cuz I have no idea.
It's finding inner peace. You have to be okay by yourself, in your own company, with your own life, before you can welcome someone else in.
You wouldn't want to invite someone over to a messy house, right? So its kind of like cleaning yourself up first. Theres no point running after marriage, or a guy, before YOU would want to marry yourself.
You are never complete without your other half, true, but your half has to be complete until it can fit into the whole.
Does that make sense?
oh and whats LANYF?
ReplyDeleteThere is a like button for posts.
ReplyDeleteIt's called: Reactions.
If you go to your blog layout, and click 'edit' on the big 'blog posts' box, you can add reactions to your posts. They let you customize the reactions, too, if you want people to be able to choose "This post rocks!" or "Not your best stuff" or "LOL"... you get the idea.
I've thought about adding it to my blog, but I realized I'd rather hear people's comments then someone just clicking the "you've written better posts" reaction...
Thanks yossi. I shall take your advice and not add it. I never liked that feature on facebook anyway.
ReplyDeleteLong comment... but nothing about the actual post. Disappointing.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletere: I DO like long comments.
ReplyDeleteYou're making me sound stupid. That hurts.
I'm sorry.
ReplyDeleteyou better be. There's only one person that's allowed to make me feel stupid, and that's me.
ReplyDeleteStill waiting for your comment.
I was only kidding around
ReplyDeleteugh, and I have a bad sense of humor...? I did know that. Sans, my reply. I CAN take a joke.
ReplyDeletemake one option for reactions : Like :)
ReplyDeleteand i promise Ill comment too, k? ;)
no deal.
ReplyDelete"You wouldn't want to invite someone over to a messy house, right? "
ReplyDeleteHit the nail on the head with that one, i like it very much, if you dont mind ill add that to my arsenal of one-liners and tell everybody i thought it up. Lost And Not Yet Found (LANYF) i was to lazy to write it out in full, and look where it got me :)
And i did not want to imply that i knew what finding self means, i was just asking
lol. Taking the credit for my thoughts... naughty boy.
ReplyDeleteSo, have you found yourself yet?
Okay found some nice quotes on self:
ReplyDeleteIf you don't get lost, there's a chance you may never be found. ~Author Unknown
If in the last few years you haven't discarded a major opinion or acquired a new one, check your pulse. You may be dead. ~Gelett Burgess
Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves. ~Henry David Thoreau
To dare to live alone is the rarest courage; since there are many who had rather meet their bitterest enemy in the field, than their own hearts in their closet. ~Charles Caleb Colton, Lacon, 1825
(I really like that one.)
One does not "find oneself" by pursuing one's self, but on the contrary by pursuing something else and learning through some discipline or routine (even the routine of making beds) who one is and wants to be. - May Sarton
But this makes everything simpler: 'I found Jesus; he was hiding behind the couch the whole time.'
So we'll change that to: 'I found myself; I was hiding behind the couch the whole time.'
I like your explanation of 'finding yourself'. You said it's when you'd want to marry you. Meaning only when you are comfortable with yourself will someone else be comfortable with you as well.
ReplyDeleteWhen you said that once you find yourself, you will find her, do you mean that she will come to you? That is what daniels82 sounded like he was saying. Your bashert will find you when you are comfortable with yourself.
Or is it that when you know yourself, then you'll know what to look for in her, and you'll know whether she is your bashert?
I think it's the second one.
and stam, I liked how you said he was looking for his bashert on rooftops and alleys... He must be desparate to climb roofs like spiderman or wait around in dark alleys. It makes sense he would look in the icecream and pizza stores, because at least if it took a while, he could buy some food.
I didn't mean she will LITERALLY come to you. I meant abstractly. So yes, more like the second one. Once you know you, and you like you, then there is room for her, and you'll be able to know who the 'her' is.
ReplyDeleteSHE wont find you, cuz you have to look, you have to do the work. But it might be easier once you know what to look for.
lol. Is it always about food? I like how you took that literally too. I think everyone interprets things as they see fit, and thats good.
i was trying to think what the nimshal could be, if pizza and alleys were only meshalim, but it was beyond my limited intellectual scope. So I just had to take it literally.
ReplyDeletePlease share the nimshal with me, if it wasn't meant to be taken literally
Sorry, I hadn't remebered if I had written it before or not.
ReplyDeleteI could tell you what I thought when I WROTE it, but maybe I shouldn't. I like to give people the freedom to make their own conclusions, and opinions about it. Like when you read a book, and the ending is left hanging. You have room for imagination. If the author told you what they meant by it, then your imagination is cut off.
ReplyDeleteBut honestly, I didn't really mean any of it literally. I was trying to set a picture of where a person would search. And you know the search isn't literal, or physical, so the places don't have to be that way either.
Again, take it as you want to, and that is fine.
Great post!
ReplyDeleteThank you! Thanks for commenting.
ReplyDeleteA bit off topic but your new URL keeps reminding me of frat houses. Beta, Alta-b, etc.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, nice post.
lol now that u mention it, it does sound like that.
ReplyDeletealas, its just as boring as my name.
This was nice to read. Marriage on your mind lately? ;p
ReplyDeleteBy the way, now you know what holds marriage together, it is finding yourself and the significant other that you don't mind to hold on to - no matter what comes your way. You know I said once that all those problems like material and stuff, have but one purpose - if you feel like clinging to him when they come, you know you married the right guy, when he feels like clinging to you when he needs to come back home you are the good wife, in other words it is a clinging meter of marriage the more you want it, the better it is, the less ...
ReplyDeleteNow, how would you know if you would like to cling to him if there is no problem?
That is your answer is life sucks, depends which way to look at it.
P.S. we do cling to each other when we want to cry that is all that counts, so we share happy moments better, knowing we love to be with each other.
staples: where would u get that idea??
ReplyDeletejew- yes, I get it now.