I think the biggest strength a person can have is flexibility in this day and age. Life changes so rapidly, sometimes hour by hour, that if a person isn't able to flex with the flow, then that person winds up being hurt, either emotionally or physically or both.
Take for example the events in Egypt--did any of us think this would happen a month ago? Did any of the Egyptians? Probably not, but thanks to people being flexible, that country is hopefully on the road to something better.
Having kids, trying to meet their needs in amongst your own or those of a spouse all requires flexibility. So many times, especially when my boys were much younger, I'd make a plan for the next day only to throw it all away as one of the boys would be sick in the night and need special attention the next day.
Flexibility is needed in this writing life we are all struggling with, too. Days planned for writing or revising suddenly get sucked up by other factors, unavoidable things that can't be put on hold, so the writing goes on later at night or earlier the next morning. It still gets done, just at a different time slot.
I wonder what the world would be like if everything had more of a give and take to it, if all people could flex a bit more, if things had more of a plastic, fluid motion to it than some of the rigidness we find ourselves in at times. I'd like to think it would be a better world, but maybe that is just wishful thinking on my part. It feels like it would be more harmonious, more in tune with nature--I guess I'm thinking this because the wind is blowing fiercely tonight and yet the tall maples, white pines, and birch outside my window just flex and bend in the stiff breezes; they don't crack and break off instantly the minute the first gust hits them. People could take a lesson or two from that.
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