Unless You Enter – updated 2017
The meaning is pretty obvious I think. You want something of value? You have to face danger to get it.
What danger do you face?
Drawing © Marty Coleman
Whatever Is Good To Know – updated 2017
Proverbs continued…
And that is why, whether it’s about ratios or relationships, math or mates, your children are not likely to learn it just because you told it to them. As a matter of fact, it’s likely you DID tell it to them and they didn’t even hear you.
One must learn it, experience it, suffer the pain of pursuing it, themselves. That is why parent’s are doing their children no favors when they don’t allow them to experience pain, uncertainty, decision-making and failure on their own.
They must climb the cliffs, brave the seas and climb the volcano on their own, in their own pursuit of what is good to know.
Drawing and commentary © Marty Coleman
“Whatever is good to know is difficult to learn.” – a Greek Proverb
You Can’t Force Anyone – updated 2017
Proverb week continues.
But people love money and lend love without being forced. Why is that?
Drawing © Marty Coleman
“You can’t force anyone to love you or lend you money.” – Jewish Proverb
What is Said When Drunk – updated 2017
Well, not always.
But it’s true enough to pay close attention to what a drunk person says, if you can understand them.
Quote is a Flemish proverb. (Flemish is spoken in Flanders which is located mostly in Belgium, but also parts of the Netherlands and France. It is only slightly different than Dutch.)
Drawing © Marty Coleman
>People Count Up The Faults
>
I am starting a proverb series today.
I keep coming across quotes that have no author, and usually they are either too stupid for someone to take credit for or they are proverbs that have become connected with a particular culture.
Yesterday’s was the first variety, today’s is the second.
Doesn’t matter if it is a doctor, a wife, a husband, a kid, or a president you are waiting for, if you have to wait too long it’s easy to stew, and stewing makes for malevolent thoughts; anger, frustration, annoyance, etc.
It really does get down to trying to understand why you are angry at the delay. What is going to happen that is so bothersome? Missing a flight can be a pretty big drag for example. But I learned long ago, after being married to two women who both have a biological clock set at least 15 minutes behind the rest of the world, that in the end most delays aren’t really that big a deal and they aren’t worth getting crazy over.
Drawing by Marty Coleman, The Napkin Dad
The Napkin Dad Daily blog
Quote is a French proverb
Inside Me Are Two – updated 2017
Day two of my thinking about dogfights due to wiggle dog and stumpy dog getting into a nasty fight a few days back.
I like the idea that in the fight between good and bad we all have inside us, the winner is which one we feed. How simple is that? What do you pay attention to? Which one do you nurture and pet and let sit on your lap? Which one do you give treats to?
Obviously I am talking abstractly. But the decision about which way to respond to an event or situation in life is often determined quickly, and quick decisions usually will follow what you are most practiced in; meanness or kindness, defensiveness or openness, love or hate, anger or understanding.
What dog do you feed?
Drawing and commentary © Marty Coleman
“Inside me are two dogs, one mean, one kind. They fight often. The one who wins? The one I feed the most.” – variation on a Native American saying
A Good Listener – updated 2017
Day 3 of vacation. I will return July 5th. Here is another of
the original napkinsI drew for my daughters between 1998
and 2004.
Why do you think this is? How is one flattered by a good
listener? Are you a good listener?
The Birds of Sorrow
How does the uninvited guest end up staying? By moving in while the
host is asleep. Why is the host asleep? Because she is tired. Why is the
host tired? Because she has spent herself chasing after the birds flying
overhead, shooing them away. Why does she feel she needs to shoo
them away? Because they make noise and poop all over her and her
home. What could she do to get rid of the birds and not be too tired?
She can go to the House of Need and helps someone there. The birds
will follow her and will get distracted while she is there, flying off to parts
unknown while she returns to her home free to slumber without fear.
“You cannot prevent the birds of sorrow from flying over your head, but you can prevent them from building nests in your hair.” – Chinese proverb
When the Heart Grieves Over What It Has Lost
“When the heart grieves over what it has lost, the spirit can still rejoice over what it has left.” – Sufi Aphorism
The pain of a break up or loss is about so much. If you are the breakee, then it is
about wondering why you aren’t lovable, why you can’t keep a man or woman. If you
are the breaker, then it is about not wanting to hurt someone but needing to get out.
Those are just two things. But in either case, you will feel loss, you will feel something
missing, a hole in your whole.
The suggestion that you might get from well meaning friends, ‘Hey, look at all you
still have.’ might seem like just so much torture, since at the time you don’t feel you
have anything at all. But in truth, in time, your spirit, in spite your heart’s desire to
continue grieving, will look towards what remains and will find in them your
strength and happiness for the days ahead. Cliche as it might be, it is how it really
does go.
This is for my friend, T.
Drawing © 2022 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
It is bad luck to fall out of a 13th story window on a Friday
“It is bad luck to fall out of a 13th story window on a Friday.” – American Proverb
Happy Friday the 13th! Go break a mirror, walk under a ladder, pet a black cat walking in front of you and whatever else you want to do, then go make some good luck for yourself!
What are your superstitions for this or any other day? Share it with me, ok?
Drawing © 2022 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com