Hello wonderful people!
I posted late this week. Womp, womp. I can make no excuses other than failing to properly plan for the level of insanity that was last week. But that’s how we learn!
Today, in order to keep things quick, I wanted to share a bit about two of the things I own. Both are important to me, but they’re important for opposite reasons.
One of them is a paper napkin rose that I found abandoned on my high school cafeteria floor during my senior year. I hate litter, so I picked it up, but this piece of garbage felt a little special and so I decided to hold on to it. I've had it ever since then. It doesn’t look valuable, which is why someone left it discarded on the floor, but to me it is valuable, and I love it dearly.
The other is a chunk of pyrite, or fool's gold, that I've had for so long that I can't remember where it came from or how I got a hold of it. It's a piece of metallic-looking rock that's roughly the half the size of my palm, and it looks quite similar to gold. It looks valuable, but it isn’t. It’s just a rough imitation of something truly precious.
Comparing those two items has taught me a lot about what really matters. When I make a choice between two decisions, am I choosing fool’s gold or a paper rose? Am I choosing the first shiny thing I see, even if it has no real substance or meaning? Or am I choosing the paper rose, forgotten and overlooked on the floor, a reminder that even literal garbage has the potential to become something beautiful?
I keep them both to remind me to look for the hidden beauty in the world. I hope that I can always cleave to the good and choose the things that matter most.
Go make good choices this week! I’ll see you Saturday.
