Life Lesson #536

Here’s a short and sweet one I keep telling myself over the last few years:

“If the world were to end tomorrow, I would want to say ‘at least I did my best,’ not ‘I wish I’d tried harder.”

***

I have a habit of reading most of the notices on the walls at UBC. I’m one of those strange students that stand in front of notice boards for 5 minutes at a time reading every poster or announcement or newspaper clipping. One time, on the door of a professor’s office in my faculty, I read a story. Here’s the version from my memory:

A huge fire started in the forest. All the animals were afraid. It was so big that it seemed like the whole forest would be engulfed in its flames sooner or later. Nobody knew what to do.

While everyone was staring at the flames helplessly, overwhelmed by their helplessness, a tiny bird flew back from the far away lake with a beak full of water. The tiny bird deposited the tiny stream of water onto the flames. The flames flickered, only to burn even more brightly. The tiny bird flew back in the direction of the lake. She returned with yet another beak-full of water, heading towards the fire. After half a day of this back and forth, the flames seemed to reach even higher into the sky.

A wave of discussion swept through all the other animals. How stupid! How noble! How useless! How amazing!

Unable to contain their curiosity, giraffe finally stretched his neck and asked tiny bird, “What are you doing?”

“Putting out the fire, of course,” replied tiny bird matter-of-factly.

“But, is there any use?” inquired a perplexed giraffe.

“I don’t know, but at least I’m trying the only way I can,” tiny bird offered.

***

The story ends, with nobody knowing the ending.