“I take my vows seriously.” Well, harrumph! Is there an aggrandizement more ponderous and self-justifying than this one? It’s frequently employed to deny fear, avoid responsibility, rationalize inaction, and rally support for the status quo. Perhaps that’s why Jesus’ instruction was so categorical and explicit: “Take no vows.” Hidden agendas aside, why do we take life so seriously? It’s a lila, after all.
You can be straight. You can tell a man that anger is a sickness, and that for as long as he is angry, he is sick, and that sickness is an inside job.
It’s good to be re-minded of this starting-block truth: We are not in control of what happens. All we can control is our response to what happens. We are response-able to that extent.
We do not shape events. We respond to them. “Life is the dancer. We are the dance.”
“That should not have happened.” This is crazy talk. It happened. Now what?
Men's Work 