Life is a test of resistance. ~ We are all strings, stretched and pulled, loosened and slackened, let out or reeled in. ~ It's this ebb and flow that is the test. ~
We start out as a ball of string, nicely wound and compact. ~ But as life starts, we begin to unroll the string. ~ Like a yarn ball thrown down a flight of stairs, we tumble down, down, down, driven forwards by a compelling force (in this case, gravity). ~
At times, when we have gained too much momentum, we often start to lose self-control, to go all out and release too much string, too fast. ~ Just like a young child playing happily and naively, we let out too much line and end up with a tangled mess. ~
Then, there are times when we become too tightly strung. ~ Living on the bare minimum, our string pulled back as if an archer were pulling on a bow; tension builds up as we resist the urge to let go. ~ But how much can a person stand before he or she snaps? ~ Even the best quality string can't withstand the strength of time. ~
But as we grow up and we learn, we adopt temperance. ~ Like an expert fisherman, we known as if by instinct how much line to let out, how long to wait before we reel in the prize fish. ~ Like a trapeze artist, we find perfect balance on our rope, a precarious peace. ~ Like a seamstress, we know how tight a thread can be pulled before it snaps. ~ "Experience is necessary." ~ In fact, experience might just trump education, because experience itself encompasses not only education, but also throws at us those special cases, exceptions like the numerous ones found in French grammar. ~
So instead of memorizing complicated physics formulae calculating string tension, or studying up on the different types of materials that strings can be made of, or, if you're the type to ramble on like myself, writing poetry or philosophical blog posts about string, just get out there and start truly experiencing your own string of life. ~
