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#19 – Why Do We Do What We Do?

When I feel like reading profound stories that make me think about life and the world, I read “Like The Flowing River: Thoughts and Reflections” from Paulo Coelho.

I just read the chapter “The Importance of the Cat in Meditation” and it reminded me of another story, which I’d like to share with you.

“A little girl was watching her mother prepare a fish for dinner. Her mother cut the head and tail off the fish and then placed it into a baking pan. The little girl asked her mother why she cut the head and tail off the fish. Her mother thought for a while and then said, ‘I’ve always done it that way—that’s how my mother did it.’

Not satisfied with the answer, the little girl went to visit her grandma to find out why she cut the head and tail off the fish before baking it. Grandma thought for a while and replied, ‘I don’t know. My mother always did it that way.’ So the little girl and the grandma went to visit great-grandma to find out if she knew the answer. 

Great-grandma thought for a while and said, ‘Because my baking pan was too small to fit in the whole fish.

Sitting outside and enjoying a beautiful Sunday evening in Prishtina, I tell myself:

If we find ourselves following the majority blindly, it is maybe time to rethink why we do what we do.

Prishtina, Kosovo

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