if you cannot find a worthy companion

If you cannot find
a worthy companion,
better to travel alone,
like a king who has renounced
his kingdom or an elephant
that has left the elephant grove.

*

Travel alone
rather than in the company of fools.
A solitary life is better
than a life kept in bad company.

Buddha, translated by Karma Yonten Senge

Commentary:


This post is dedicated to three people in particular, one who is struggling in her marriage, another who is going through a divorce, and a third who has long since decided to travel through life alone, and seems quite content doing so. I hope the first two of my friends can find this same contentment soon, as well as any other readers out there who might be going through relationship problems.

Of course, if you have relationship problems now, it doesn't mean you will necessarily always have to go it alone. Maybe you just haven't met your true travel companion yet.



P.S. After posting this entry, I learned that the person I mentioned above who has been 'traveling' alone for ten years now, has actually met someone new and may no longer have to tread alone! And he is in his sixties. So you never know what lies ahead on your path!