The punkiest monkey that ever popped.
He knew every magic trick under the sun,
To tease the gods and everyone and have some fun.”
From the Godiego song, “Monkey magic”,
theme from the tv series, “Monkey”
One of the early blogs I wrote on this site
was about the value of perseverance.
I considered the different attitudes to it in the UK and Japan. One of the points I highlighted was the
Japanese idiom, “Ishi no ue ni mo san-nen”, or “Sit upon the rock for three
years.”
According to one interpretation of
this idiom, you can achieve great things by continuing even a simple thing for
a long time. Perhaps someone learning
the piano can greatly improve their technique through constant practice. If they give up as soon as it becomes boring
or difficult then they will never become a great musician. Over time, perseverance has so much power
that it can even warm a stone so much that it splits open if you sit on it for
long enough.
Well, I have followed the advice of the
idiom and persevered at writing this blog.
This is my 156th article, written at a rate of one a
week. That means I’ve been sitting on
this rock for three years. I’m getting
some huge blisters on my bottom.
Has it been worth it?
According to the idiom, what is supposed to
happen now? Does the stone, finally
warmed sufficiently by my blistered bottom, turn into an egg and crack
open? What comes out then - a mischievous
monkey god?
And what if that doesn’t happen? What if, after sitting on a rock for three
years, I find that it’s still just a rock?
Maybe the idiom can be turned around. Sit upon the rock for three years. That’s not a minimum length of time, but a
maximum. If you sit upon a rock for
three years and a magic monkey god hasn’t popped out by then, then it is never
going to happen. If you’re still sitting
at a piano after three years of effort and can barely play a tune, then it’s
time to quit. Don’t be a fool! Get off the rock. Get up and put some ointment on your
blistered bottom. Find another
hobby. Get a girlfriend. Just get away from that stupid rock!
Oh, well.
In the old article I wrote, I suggested that I would give up alcohol for
three nights a week and stick at it. At
least I didn’t sit on that rock for three years. Perseverance is nice. But there must be limits.
Vocabulary:
to emerge – to come out
perseverance – the habit of continuing
something and not quitting
an interpretation – a way of understanding
the meaning of something
a blister – a painful swelling on the
surface of one’s skin
sufficiently – to an adequate degree;
enough
mischievous – causing mischief; tending to
play tricks or cause trouble
ointment – a kind of cream used as a
medicine to treat blisters, rashes, sore skin etc.
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