You have my heart in the palm of your hand and you don’t even know it. I’m wide open and just waiting… waiting for you to take a chance on me. So tell me young man – how long are you going to make me wait? I have a lot of time for you, but I don’t have forever. Life is short. We must make the most out of opportunities or soon they will be gone. The other knights understand this… But you…
It’s so easy to get caught up in this daily grind stuff and wake up one day and find that too many years have gone by and your dreams are all dead and that it’s too late to do anything about it. It’s so easy to settle for being a big fish in a small pond. It’s so easy to abandon your own vision and support someone else’s. It’s easy because you never have to take responsibility for yourself or really build something that’s truly yours.
I’m riding the Green Car. It’s unbelievable that this train is so empty. There’s legroom. Empty seats. Food on sale. A tray table to eat my bento. Would I truly be able to enjoy this if not for the slow and steady ascent I’ve had? I was Mr. 8 of Pentacles not so long ago, packed into commuter hell; sharing my midnight misery with the masses. I didn’t like it – but I accepted that it was part of my journey from the ground up.
The Queen of Pentacles loves her family. She worries constantly about whether everything is going to be alright. In taking care of everyone else, she has forgotten that once upon a time she was a passionate woman with her own goals. Her own agenda. Her own dreams.
The Japanese practise of honne-tatemae describes the contrast between one’s true feelings and desires and public facade. The two rarely ever match up. It’s a practise that leaves many foreigners utterly confused or highly critical about the lack of transparency that’s pervasive in Japanese culture. But is honne-tatemae a uniquely Japanese phenomenon?
Many people give with the expectation that the receiver should repay them with some sense of eternal gratitude. Others give to create future debts. Remember when I did that for you, now you have to do this for me. That is not truly giving. That is a cold and calculated business deal.
