There was a monk in the Middle Ages who had a very difficult time remembering at the end of the day if he had done meritorious works or actions that were less than skillful. He lamented his problem to a very wise teacher.

Carry two bags of pebbles,” the teacher said. “One bag should contain white ones and the other, blacks. If you do an action that’s meritorious, take out a white pebble and place it into your pocket. If it was less than skillful, take out a black one. At the end of the day, count the number of white and black pebbles. It there were more whites than blacks, it was a good day. If the reverse was true, vow to do better the next day.”

For Ted Kennedy, it has been a very, very good day. There might be a lesson there for all of us.

copyright 2009 Stan Goldberg, stangoldbergwriter.com

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