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W
riting a monthly column is a challenge and we are always
searching for inspiration. Over the years, I have gathered
inspiration from Ruth Stricker’s the Marsh Monthly
newsletter. The recent October issue particularly
resonated with me. Ruth’s column opened with a story many of you may
be familiar with:
One day a professor handed out an exam to his students with the
text facing down, as usual. He asked the students to turn over the
papers. To everyone’s surprise, there were no questions—just a
black dot in the center of the sheet. The professor told them: “I want
you to write about what you see on there.”
At the end of the class, the professor took all the exams, and
started reading each one out loud, in front of all the students. All
of them, with no exception, defined the black dot, trying to explain
its position in the center of the sheet. After all had been read, the
classroom silent, the professor started to explain: “I’m not going to
grade you on this, I just wanted to give you something to think
about. No one wrote about the white part of the paper. Everyone focused on the black
dot—and the same happens in our lives. We have a white piece of paper to observe and
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enjoy, but we always focus on the dark spots.”
“Our life is a gift given to us with love and care, and we always have reason to
celebrate—nature renewing itself every day, our friends around us, the job that provides
our livelihood, the miracles we see every day. However, we insist on focusing only on the
dark spot—the health issues that bother us, the lack of money, the complicated
relationship with a family member, the disappointment with a friend. The dark spots are
very small when compared to everything we have in our lives, but they’re the ones that
pollute our mind. Take your eyes away from the black dots in your life. Enjoy each one of
your blessings, each moment that life gives you. Be happy and live a life filled with love!”
As Ruth so eloquently stated in her summation of the story, “The professor’s point well taken—
let us acknowledge the black spot and then fill out the white space with optimism, gratitude and
celebration!”
I am guilty of focusing on the black dot—if I don’t have something to worry about, those who
know me know that one of my “gifts” is