"It is easier to beg for forgiveness than it is to ask for permission". Why do I love the person who functions on this principle? The one who asks for permission is obviously more considerate, more brave, less reckless and selfish. But ultimately the one who is asking permission is asking me to be complicit, or worse, his superior, a role that, even as a parent, I have never been comfortable with. Anyway I had been thinking about this for a few days when Mo sent a photo of her new tattoo. Not that she was asking for forgiveness (or permission). But that principle seems to be at least a part of the definition of the word "timshel" (google it babe) (I did).
Here's what Steinbeck had to say about the choice between good and evil and the ability we have to redeem ourselves:
"I believe that there is one story in the world, and only one...Humans are caught --in their lives, in their thoughts, in their hungers and ambitions, and in their avarice and cruelty, and in their kindness and generosity too --in a net of good and evil...and it occurs to me that evil must constantly respawn, while good, while virtue is immortal."
Don't ask me what it means. But think about it today when you have to, you know, choose between right and wrong.
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