10. Allow

 

Rebekka had brought cake that day. It smelled fresh and sweet. She cut it in pieces and gave everyone one.

“I baked it myself,” she explained, then settled down, while her gaze went through the round expectantly.

“It has become excellent,” Lilith said after she had tasted. Ruben and Samuel agreed. But instead of rejoicing and eating her own piece, Rebekka looked rather disgruntled.

“That’s all?” she asked, her expectation growing even higher.

“Yes, that’s all,” confirmed Ruben, who had finished his first piece, “Is not that enough?”

“Yes, that’s not enough!” Rebekka blurted.

“But there is not much more than excellent,” insisted Ruben.

“That’s what it is,” Rebekka said, “There must be something that does not fit. Something you tell me, and what I can do better next time. “

“Why do you want to improve something that does not have to be improved anymore?” Lilith wondered.

“Because there is always something to improve!” Rebekka said.

“So it is not about the cake,” Samuel said for the first time after he had silently followed the back and forth of the words, “It is already about this, one must never be satisfied with itself. I think you have misunderstood something.”

“And what should I have misunderstood, Mister Weisenheimer?”, asked Rebekka, challenging.

“That you are not called upon to extend your state of dissatisfaction to every trifle,” Samuel explained, and in his voice, sympathy and patience sounded, “It is always said that one is not content, for who is satisfied is inert and does not go any further. This is also good and right. If you have done something, you should not sit back and be content with it, but look for something new. “

“Or after a mistake you made,” Rebekka interrupted, “or what you can do better with what you have done, because something goes always.”

“And then you have the whipper-it behind you, eternally and always, and at every moment,” Samuel remarked, “The whipper-it who drives you, who watches you. At first only in the day, but then in the night. He is persecuting you and demanding more and more for you. He will not let your thoughts rest, either by day or by night. First. And then he will not let you rest, either by day or by night. You always have to do more and more, and continue to look for errors. “

“And if I’ve eradicated them all then I’m perfect,” Rebekka explained. “So what’s to be bad about?”

“That you can never be perfect according to your theory, that you always have to look for new mistakes, otherwise you are satisfied,” Samuel countered, “It is basically correct. Only this concept is an important component. “

“And what is that supposed to be?” Rebekka asked.

“To the component of satisfaction,” Samuel said succinctly.

“And that is not supposed to be a contradiction?” Rebekka said perplexed.

“No, because there is a difference between the concept of dissatisfaction in every situation of life and every opportunity, or whether I simply use it to develop myself,” Samuel explained. “If I let myself be whipped, I’ll be one slave, but if I allow myself to be spurred, even to stop, to see what life provides me with challenges, then I am willing to accept them. And when I have mastered one of these challenges, then I can also sit back and say, I have done well. That fits the way it is. At the moment to stay and feel comfortable in it. Get new strength and then go on. One does not exclude the other. Like your cake. It’s really perfect, just like it is. Now you can desperately search for what you can still do better, or you can just sit there and enjoy your cake. For this moment. Satisfied that he likes you, satisfied, that we sit together here and eat him together. And then, strengthened and saturated, then get up and go back into the hands of your dissatisfaction. Then it’s alright.”

 

Rebekka struggled with himself. It is difficult to recognize that you may have been wrong, if only a little. Is not that also an inadequacy, to admit, that one was wrong or simply misunderstood? It is not easy to stand. But to whom should one stand, if not to himself?

 

“And how is it with myself?” Rebekka asked, “With my mistakes and weaknesses? It is always said, we all have some, but should I simply accept them and pretend as if nothing? “

“It depends,” said Lilith, “how much do these mistakes and weaknesses affect you? How much do you feel restricted by them? And above all, do you think that it is mistakes and weaknesses, because it is really your opinion or because you take the opinions of others, and whether it is a general consensus to mine? If there are weaknesses that limit you and cause you to feel uncomfortable, then work on it. But some things that are seen as weaknesses make you in your individuality. Transform your weaknesses into strength, and as long as they do not harm you, then reconcile with them. Rejoice with you. “

“Reconcile with me …” Rebecca repeated.

“Reconcile with you, accept and be satisfied to have space to develop, because one does not exclude the other,” added Ruben.

“Finding a compromise to keep moving forward and to stand still,” Rebekka added.

“Not a compromise, but the right alternative for the situation. A compromise is always something that only losers leave behind. Time of pause. Time of prosecution,” Samuel replied.

“Just like at that moment, to enjoy the cake and the tea and our togetherness. Moment of staying. Moment of a quiet contentment,” Ruben said emphatically. And his eyes fell on Lilith. When had he been so satisfied the last time?

 

On this evening, the cake mold found itself in the display, as a symbol of shared enjoyment and satisfaction in this. For the cake had quickly eaten.

Go to part 11 here