The Master said,
“There are shoots that never come to flower,
and there are flowers that never bear fruit.”
—Analects of Confucius - Book 9, Chapter 22
How does this play out long term? I wondered this as I observed three girls and a boy playing under the half-assed supervision of one of their fathers, who was preoccupied with fishing.
Here’s what happened:
What kind of stories and habits were being reinforced for the long haul here?
For example:
I fear that fatherhood, if it’s ever in the cards, may one day short-circuit my over-analytical brain. All I could wonder was, Will these shoots come to flower? Or will they wither on the vine before they bear fruit? (I guess in this metaphor, they’re toxic flowers or poison berries, but perhaps I’m stretching here.)
Anyway, can you think of any patterns like this that you may have learned back when the memories are a bit fuzzy?