Once, a circle was missing a wedge. The circle wants to remain intact, so it looks around for the missing piece. But because it is incomplete, it can only roll very slowly, and it appreciates the flowers along the way. It chats with bugs. It enjoys the sunshine. It found many different parts, but none of them fit. So it left them all on the side of the road and kept looking. Then one day, the circle found a perfectly matched fragment. I'm so happy. Now it may be complete, with nothing missing. It integrates the missing parts into itself and begins to roll. Now it's a perfect circle. It can roll so fast that it won't notice the flowers talking to bugs. When it realized how different the world looked when it rolled so fast, it stopped, put the piece it found on the side of the road and rolled away slowly.
I think the lesson of this story is that in a strange sense, when we lose something, we are more complete. The man who has everything is poor in some ways. He will never know what it feels like to yearn, hope and nourish his soul with better dreams. He will never know the experience of someone who loves him giving him something he has always wanted or never had.
A person's integrity lies in that he can accept his own limitations, bravely give up unrealistic dreams, and will not feel failed because of it. A complete man or woman knows that he or she is strong enough to experience a tragedy and survive. Even if she loses someone, she still feels like a complete person.
Life is not a trap set by God for us, so that he can condemn our failure. Life is not a spelling bee. No matter how many words you spell correctly, if you make a mistake, you will be disqualified. Life is more like a baseball season. Even the best team will lose one-third of the games, and even the worst team will have its glorious days. Our goal is to win more games than to lose.
When we accept imperfection as a part of human beings, when we can continue to live and appreciate it, we will get the wholeness that others can only desire. I believe that this is what God demands of us-not "perfection", not "no mistakes", but "completeness".
If we are brave enough to love, strong enough to forgive, generous enough to rejoice in the happiness of others, and wise enough to know that there is enough love around us, then we can get satisfaction that other creatures will never get.