No one owes you anything and past deeds don’t always guarantee future deeds. Just because someone does and has been doing something does not mean they will continue to do so. And here is what you might have not considered and perhaps the source of all our frustrations with others: everyone has the right to change and to do or not do anything at anytime, for anyone. Not your mother, father, sister or brother owes you anything and neither do you owe them anything. When we learn to release those we love, we love them more. When we release them from obligations we love them more because love has no obligations. When you understand this, you will have understood a love above the conventional kind.
Our expectations are what create our frustrations with others. Because we are creatures of habit, people tend to assume that the habits that one has today are going to be the habits that he or she will have forever. The people around us get used to those habits because they make them feel comfortable, they are the familiar, they are observable, but you also have to remember that they are unreliable. Life is unreliable. You do not know what tomorrow will bring so life is unreliable. At the same time, people are unreliable because you don’t know if they will be there tomorrow. This does not mean you lose faith and trust in people. It simply means that people are under no obligation to you or anyone. So, let others live so that you too may live. Free them and free your mind.
When I was in Cameroon at age 10, there was a bird nest near my house. For weeks I watched the birds and it just happened that there were eggs in the nest. I watched the mother nurture them every morning before I went to school. And finally, the eggs hatched. I watched the mother bring in food and the babies would open their mouths wide as she dropped the food in their mouth. This went on for a few weeks until the baby birds were strong and somewhat able to fly on their own. Then a strange thing happened. One day, the mother started to push the babies out of the nest; the would fly and land back on the tree. They did this several times until the mother pushed them out again one morning when their wings were strong enough and they could sustain flight for a longer time like the mother. They flew out of the tree and I never saw them again.
Then again, I could wrong. I often am.
There is a lesson here somewhere. What do you think it is? Agree, disagree and why or why not?
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