Sometimes you're stuck between a rock and a hard place (or "the Rock and a hard case" if you're Sean Connery). What do you do? Fret and worry your way out of it? Resign yourself to failure? Or maybe just live in the moment, knowing you've done and/or are doing the best you can? Today's drawing after the jump...
I understand that there's this proverb or story about a man who is walking along when all of a sudden a tiger leaps out of the forest and begins chasing him. The man knows he can't outrun the tiger, so as quickly as he can, he ties his rope around a rock and begins to climb down a cliff, only to find his rope doesn't reach to the bottom, so he winds up suspended about 50 feet above some jagged rocks which are being pounded by the ocean waves.
So, he hangs there, hoping that the tiger will lose interest and go away, but that tiger is hungry and he hasn't seen any other food walking around in a while, so he's going to wait. The man's arms start to get tired, but he thinks he can handle it...until he remembers that the rope he was carrying and is presently using is his old, busted rope he was taking to the ropemaker to have mended. Sure enough, he glances up and the frayed rope is stretching and beginning to fray even more. It's only a matter of time before it snaps.
The man, surveying his situation, looks up at the hungry tiger, then down at the jagged rocks, and while doing so notices that a strawberry plant has somehow sprouted out of the cliff face and it just so happens to be strawberry season, so there are a couple juicy morsels staring him in the face. He figures he's got nothing else to do in what seem to be his final moments on earth so he might as well enjoy them and he eats the strawberries, making a dire situation at least a little more enjoyable.
Brennan Manning relates this story in one of his books...either The Ragamuffin Gospel or Ruthless Trust - I can't remember which. It resonated with me at the time and so I drew the piece featured today: "Strawberries"
No comments:
Post a Comment