晨读英语美文 Being a whole

Being a Whole
[00:07.64]Once a circle missed a wedge. 
[00:15.72]The circle wanted to be whole, 
[00:18.20]so it went around looking for its missing piece. 
[00:21.38]But because it was incomplete 
[00:24.45]and therefore could roll only very slowly, 
[00:27.07]it admired the flowers along the way. 
[00:29.80]It chatted with worms. 
[00:32.10]It enjoyed the sunshine. 
[00:34.07]It found lots of different pieces, but none of them fit. 
[00:38.22]So it left them all by the side of the road
[00:42.44] and kept on searching. 
[00:43.14]Then one day the circle found a piece that fit perfectly. 
[00:48.50]It was so happy. 
[00:50.26]Now it could be whole, with nothing missing. 
[00:53.86]It incorporated the missing piece into itself 
[00:58.30]and began to roll. 
[00:59.12]Now that it was a perfect circle, 
[01:02.18]it could roll very fast, 
[01:04.47]too fast to notice the flowers,to talk to the worms. 
[01:08.75]When it realized how different the world seemed 
[01:12.86]when it rolled so quickly, 
[01:13.77]it stopped, left its found piece by the side of the road
[01:18.64] and rolled slowly away.
[01:20.01]The lesson of the story, I suggested, 
[01:23.29]was that in some strange sense we are more whole 
[01:27.91]when we are missing something. 
[01:28.54]The man who has everything is in some ways a poor man. 
[01:32.58]He will never know what it feels like to yearn, to hope, 
[01:36.96]to nourish his soul with the dream of something better. 
[01:40.24]He will never know the experience
[01:43.38] of having someone who loves him 
[01:44.70]and give him something he has always wanted or never had.
[01:48.75]There is a wholeness about the person
[01:52.57] who has come to terms with his limitations, 
[01:54.65]who has been brave enough 
[01:57.07]to let go of his unrealistic dreams 
[01:59.47]and not feel like a failure for doing so. 
[02:02.64]There is a wholeness about the man or woman 
[02:06.47]who has learned that he or she is strong enough 
[02:10.81]to go through a tragedy and survive, 
[02:13.14]she/he can lose someone 
[02:16.61]and still feel like a complete person.
[02:18.39]Life is not a trap set for us by God 
[02:23.63]so that he can condemn us for failing. 
[02:25.61]Life is not a spelling bee, 
[02:27.90]where no matter how many words youve gotten right, 
[02:31.30]you're disqualified if you make one mistake. 
[02:34.58]Life is more like a baseball season, 
[02:37.86]where even the best team loses one-third of its games 
[02:41.80]and even the worst team has its days of brilliance. 
[02:45.41]Our goal is to win more games than we lose.
[02:48.91]When we accept that imperfection is part of being human, 
[02:53.94]and when we can continue rolling through life and appreciate it, 
[02:58.21]we will have achieved a wholeness 
[03:01.95]that others can only aspire to. 
[03:03.12]That, I believe, is what God asks of us  
[03:07.28]not be perfect, not don't even make a mistake, but be whole.
[03:12.75]If we are brave enough to love, strong enough to forgive, 
[03:17.28]generous enough to rejoice in another's happiness, 
[03:21.18]and wise enough to know 
[03:23.82]there is enough love to go around for us all, 
[03:25.99]then we can achieve a fulfillment 
[03:29.87]that no other living creature will ever know.