My sister often complains of having no purpose, no goal, and no ability to accomplish anything. On the one hand it’s hard to argue with, given her very real and severe limitations. On the other hand, one could ask what can anyone accomplish that is of true significant. On the third hand, I have my own answer to this question: We work to reduce suffering. That is the only thing that really matters, and the only true contribution we can make. And my sister can do that too, in her own way. For instance, by volunteering at a pet shelter (which she does, for about 45 minutes a week).
Yesterday I had dinner with my sister and my mother at a Chinese restaurant, on our way to dropping my mom off at the airport. My sister surprised me at the beginning of dinner, by pointing out a vegetarian item on the “specials” menu – she usually doesn’t read in great depth, or else doesn’t understand what she reads. That was nice of her, and impressive.
At the end of the meal, the obligatory fortune cookies came. My sister struggled to open one (my mother eventually opened it for her) and, after crunching the cookies, squinted at the slip of fortune.
“What does it say?” my mother asked.
“It says… ‘An aim in…. life, is… just fortune'” my sister said, puzzling out the words.
“What does that mean?” my mother asked.
“It means there is no point to having an aim in life, it’s all just fortune, just luck, anyway.”
My mother took the slip of paper from my sister and read it out loud: “An aim in life is the only fortune one needs.”
And I thought to myself: Life is a projection test. And I was sad for the rest of the evening.
My sister was quite cheerful after the meal. My mother asked me why I look so sad, and I said I was very tired (which was true, but wasn’t why I was looking sad). My mother said she was tired too. My sister gleefully remarked that she is actaully not tired at all, but she can’t drive, so we are still stuck driving tired. Good for her. It’s rare that she jokes about any of her limitations.