view
A spider web that is stronger than wall
I was cleaning my old emails and found this story that was forwarded to me back in 2005. I do not know the source of the story nor whether this was real or made up.
Author: Unknown
During World War II, a US marine was separated from his unit on a Pacific island. The fighting had been intense, and in the smoke and the crossfire he had lost touch with his comrades.
Alone in the jungle, he could hear enemy soldiers coming in his direction. Scrambling for cover, he found his way up a high ridge to several small caves in the rock. Quickly he crawled inside one of the caves.
Although safe for the moment, he realised that once the enemy soldiers looking for him swept up the ridge, they would quickly search all the caves and he would be killed.
As he waited, he prayed, “Lord, if it be your will, please protect me. Whatever your will though, I love you and trust you. Amen.”
After praying, he lay quietly listening as the enemy begin to draw close. He thought, “Well, I guess the Lord isn't going to help me out of this one.”
Then he saw a spider begin to build a web over the front of his cave.
As he watched, listening to the enemy searching for him all the while, the spider layered strand after strand of web across the opening of the cave.
“Hah, he thought. “What I need is a brick wall and what the Lord has sent me is a spider web. God does have a sense of humor.”
As the enemy drew closer he watched from the darkness of his hideout and could see them searching one cave after another. As they came to his, he got ready to make his last stand. To his amazement, however, after glancing in the direction of his cave, they moved on.
Suddenly, he realised that with the spider web over the entrance, his cave looked as if no one had entered for quite a while. “Lord, forgive me,” prayed the young man. “I had forgotten that in you, a spider web is stronger than a brick wall.”
view
Five moves beyond
“We often make career choices by looking at what’s right in front of us. We prepare for the next move, not the five moves beyond that.
This is ok early on when we have less conviction over who we are, what we’re good at, and what we like. But each move should bring us more clarity, helping us head in a direction aligned with where we want to be long-term.
...
It’s always worth trading money I have today for something I would regret at the end of my life.
...
Risks only get harder to take later in life. It’s an exorbitant privilege being able to chase upside rather than guard against downside.”
Related: – Top five regrets – Everyday epiphanies
view
Failure to build a billion-dollar company
Note: Not a billion yet, but a profitable business nonetheless.
