Mud or Stars?

In his book, “Man of Character in a World of Compromise” , Richard Exley tells of a woman whose husband was posted to the army camp near the Mojave Desert, California.

“I loathed it. I had never before been so miserable. My husband was ordered out on manouvres and I was left in a tiny shack alone. The heat was unbearable – 125*. Not a sould to talk to in English. The windblew incessantly, and all the food I ate, and the very air I breathed, was filled sand. I’d rather be in jail.”

She wrote her parents to say she was giving up and coming home. Her wrote back with only two lines.

Two men looked out from prison bars,

One saw the mud, the other saw the stars.

The young woman felt ashamed and made up her mind to look for the stars. “I made friends with the natives, showed interest in their weaving and pottery and they gave me presents of their favorite pieces. I learned about prairie dogs and desert sunsets. I was a changed person. The desert and my circumstances hadn’t changed, but I had. I found the stars.”

Are we looking for the bright side?

Keeping on the sunny side,

Henry Wiebe