WITH all the restrictive measures we now have due to this coronavirus pandemic, it might be good to re-appreciate and relearn the precious lessons we can get from one of Aesop’s fables about the race between the hare and the tortoise.
Yes, we should try to be like the tortoise who may be moving slowly in that race but was single-mindedly determined to reach the finish line. And he managed to win the race, because even if he moved slowly, he was steady in his pursuit and knew what really mattered in that race.
He was not distracted with the things he encountered along the way. He did not waste time comparing himself with the hare who clearly had an advantage over him in terms of speed. Most of all, he was humble and just bore the mockery he received from the proud hare.
We should try to avoid being like the hare who may be moving fast and who clearly enjoyed an obvious and immediate advantage over the tortoise. But he lost the race just the same because he became overconfident. His overconfidence sprang from the fact that he compared himself with the slow-moving tortoise. What really did him in was his pride which made him overconfident.
It’s not that we should not give due importance to the good trait the hare had of moving fast. Let’s always remember what Christ said about combining the smartness of the serpent and the innocence of the dove. (cfr. Mt 10, 16)
It’s just that when circumstances force us to go slow, we should also know how to go about it. More importantly, we should not allow whatever advantage we may have over the others to go to our head, making us conceited. We would be going against God that way.
What we have to learn from the fable is to know the consequences of the contrast between humility and pride. Humility makes one see things more objectively while the pride blinds us with our own biases. It was humility that made the tortoise know what truly mattered in that race.
What is more is that humility also attracts God’s grace that will enable us to accept whatever happens in our earthly affairs. Even if in the end, the tortoise lost, he would not feel bad about it. He would accept that fate peacefully and with a sporting spirit.
Pride blocks God’s grace and cuts us out of God’s wisdom and everything else that he has. It has terrible effects on us, and these can take place in such a way that we would not even notice them. We have to stay away from pride by all means. Let’s always remember what St. James quoted in his letter: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” (4, 6)
But our humility should not mean that we give no importance to the speed that the hare had. It’s just that that good quality of the hare should not lead us to be proud and conceited. The best condition would then be when we would have the humility of the tortoise and the speed of the hare.
But again, given the present circumstance, we should know how to go slow by taking care of our prayer life, our faith, our conviction that whatever situation we may find ourselves in can always be an occasion to love God and others, which are the essential purpose of our life here on earth.
Also, let’s sharpen our skill in relating everything, especially our mundane and temporal affairs, to God, making them the reason and the means for loving God and the others. Our usual problem is that we often forget God and our duty to love when we are into our work, our business and politics, etc.
We have to go slow in learning the vital connection between the things of this world and the heaven we are meant to be in eternity.
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Fr. Roy Cimagala is the Chaplain of the Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise, Talamban, Cebu City (roycimagala@gmail.com/PN)
