:: anne in the attic ::

Create Your Own Countdown

:: Monday, December 29, 2003 ::

The following parable is one of my favorites, and comes from one of my favorite books, Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters & Seymour: An Introduction, (pp. 4-5), by J.D. Salinger.

"Duke Mu of Chin said to Po Lo, “You are now advanced in years. Is there any member of your family whom I could employ to look for horses in your stead?”

Po Lo replied, “A good horse can be picked out by its general build and appearance. But the superlative horse—one that raises no dust and leaves no tracks—is something evanescent and fleeting, elusive as thin air. The talents of my sons lie on a lower plane altogether; they can tell a good horse when they see one—but they cannot tell a superlative horse. I have a friend, however—one Chiu-fang Kao: a hawker of fuel and vegetables, who in things appertaining to horses is nowise my inferior. Pray see him.”

Duke Mu did so—and subsequently dispatched him on the quest for a steed. Three months later, he returned with the news that he had found one. “It is now in Shach’iu,” he added.

“What kind of horse is it?” asked the Duke.

“Oh, it is a dun-colored mare,” was the reply.

However, someone being sent to fetch it: the animal turned out to be a coal-black stallion!

Much displeased, the Duke sent for Po Lo. “That friend of yours,” he said, “whom I commissioned to look for a horse, has made a fine mess of it. Why, he cannot even distinguish a beast’s color or sex! What on earth can he know about horses?”

Po Lo heaved a sigh of satisfaction. “Has he really got as far as that?” he cried. “Ah, then he is worth ten thousand of me put together. There is no comparison between us. What Kao keeps in view is the spiritual mechanism. In making sure of the essential, he forgets the homely details; intent on the inward qualities, he loses sight of the external… So clever a judge of horses is Kao: that he has it in him to judge something better than horses.”

When the horse arrived, it turned out indeed to be a superlative animal."


Always searching for the superlative horse. And despite my feeble abilities, occasionally I find one or two. I found a card for someone a few weeks ago that quoted Mother Theresa: "If you love until it hurts, then there's no more hurt; only more love." Happy New Year, everyone.

:: Anne 11:37 PM [smartass remarks] ::
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What an odd day it was yesterday, kind of surreal. I'd been listening to Sarah M's new album , basking in the ethereality of it. When I finally went out into the world, it was one of those days where strangers confided in me. As I was picking up some Ikebana supplies at the gardening store, a woman told me that her car had been stolen that morning (a candy red Honda Acura). Someone else spoke to me about pottery. At the bank, another woman admitted some personal things that took me by surprise. I kept waiting for a man to sidle up to me and announce that he'd lowered his cholesterol....

Over the weekend, I lost my old email account of several years. It was for the better, though, I think, as the one I switched to offers 5 times the storage and seems to load faster. And the spammers don't know it exists yet. Anyway, for those of you who still read this blog, I have updated the "contact" address to the new one.

This week is nearly half done, and I feel as though I've spent half of my vacation dealing with computer issues. I've got a couple of days to take care of some chores, and then Mom and I are going up to Portland for the weekend. Man, I wish I had two weeks in a row. Someday.

:: Anne 1:01 PM [smartass remarks] ::
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