Java Zen:Thinking Out Loud Wednesday, 2026.02.11 
The time of beginning is one of the most precious times of all. It can be very
exciting and full of wonderful growth. The first thing to do is to make up your
mind that you are going to go the distance.

When I first began, I made a lifelong commitment. I determined that I would
learn from my teacher for at least seven years. Now, it has been much longer
than that, but the essential element is still the same: commitment.

But commitment needs something else in order to be perpetuated. It needs
discipline. This is the perseverance to keep on when things are tough. Adversity
is life's way of testing and perfecting a person. Without that, we would never
develop character.

Rice suffers when it is milled. Jade must suffer when it is polished. But what
emerges is something special. If you want to be special too, then you have to be
able to stick to things even when they are difficult.

		Deng Ming-Dao, "365 Tao - Daily Meditations", #271

2007.04.09

Blog Haiku #19

Friend and foe.
Fiend and fair.
One becomes the other.

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