hit three times with the stick

hit three times with the stick

fiction
edward w pritchard


Everywhere and at all times it is within my power to accept reverently my present condition. [1] Any disapprobation reaped upon myself justly will pass as no pain and no shame lasts forever.

If I have made a mistaken judgment that has injured another and have tried to right the matter timely and justly it is finished. There is no need to continue to grieve and berate myself.

As a boy I was hit quickly three times with a stick as instruction. Such pain passed quickly and is long since forgotten. My sense of justice was formed by those encounters.

Take your stand, stand your assigned post. It is a divine thing to try to be just and to be censured. Retire into yourself. Soon I will be gone and all that will be remembered is did he do his duty as best his weak character, slipping behavior and worrisome nature could generate.

[1] author is paraphrasing Marcus Aurelius