The Necklace

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  “SHE WAS one of those pretty, charming young ladies, born, as if through an error of destiny, into a family of clerks. She had no dowry, no hopes, no means of becoming known, appreciated, loved, and married by a man either rich or distinguished; and she allowed herself to marry a petty clerk in the office of the Board of Education. . . .  She had neither frocks nor jewels, nothing. And she loved only those things. She felt that she was made for them. She had such a desire to please, to be sought after, to be clever, and courted.” —THE NECKLACE Guy de Maupassant    France, 1884 (pic by Grok) Read this short story here:  https://americanliterature.com/author/guy-de-maupassant/short-story/the-necklace

Enchiridion 45:

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"Does anyone bathe in a mighty little time? Don't say that he does it ill, but in a mighty little time. Does anyone drink a great quantity of wine? Don't say that he does ill, but that he drinks a great quantity. For, unless you perfectly understand the principle from which anyone acts, how should you know if he acts ill? Thus you will not run the hazard of assenting to any appearances but such as you fully comprehend." (Epictetus, Enchiridion 45)

Reading this one is the reminded of the "here, just let me do it" syndrome. You know it. 

Someone is preparing eggs for scrambling and she beats them with a fork. But you would have used a whisk! Or beaters! "Here, let me do it!" And all is well with the world now. 

Or you are doing a project and someone asks if they can help so you let them, but they are doing that one thing in such a way that you just . . . "here let me do it." And all is well with the world. Again. 


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