1.05.2005

Today's Fortune

Today I went to my favorite Chinese restaurant (like i do every week or two). For some reason you have to request fortune cookies with your meal. Some days I do, some days I don't. Today I did.

Normally the fortune is something...well, something not very deep. Something like "You will have a lucky day today" or something positive along that line. But this was no ordinary day. Today I read my fortune and thought "was does that mean?" "Carve your name on your heart, not in marble." Deep right?

So back at work I pondered this on and off all day. No one at my work could pin down a definite meaning. But I thought of a few things it could mean:

1. Don't get caught up in material items. (eg marble?)
2. Be modest. (don't take credit for things you do- maybe like an artist?)
3. Conquer people, not things.
4. What lasts is what people think about you, not what you think of yourself (a
stretch maybe)

So i Googled the phrase when I got home. It turns out they got the phrase all wrong! Well not all wrong. It's still deep. "Carve your name on hearts and not marble." Another irony is that the phrase-- not Buddhist, Taoist, or Confucianist--has Baptist roots! Crazy. No wonder they got it wrong. But Bapist, Buddhist, Confucianist, or Taoist--I'm still trying to decide what it means.

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