The Virtues of a Rock and a Rolling Stone

Ponder the virtues of a rock. It is an inanimate, non living thing that seems to just sit there. Not so, says the rock. Rocks erode, crack, crumble and wash away. They become mountains, and then filter streams. Rocks are the sands upon which we walk. Rock causes quakes. They destroy and they protect. There is no such thing as a good rock or a bad rock; a rock does not decide. It just is. And we accept that and respect its power.

People are made of flesh, bones, hearts and souls. Our existence is both fragile and powerful. Unlike the rock, we can take some control over our change. We can decide what we want to change to and from. We can decide what we want to accept or not. We can decide what to put into our mouths. When to exercise. What to read. What to think. Who to like and who to ignore. We have the power to walk away from a bad situation, and the power to stay.

As the saying goes, the rolling stone gathers no moss.  No responsibility.  And that is where the analogy ends between people and rocks. We have the power to alter another person's life by the things that are said and done, both good and bad.  We also have the power to choose how we react to our environment.  

The only thing we cannot control is time and the fact that every day we get older. But we are powerful, more powerful than the rock.