The Dag Hammarskjold letters part four

Dear Dag Hammarskjold,



As you know from my previous letters I come across your wonderful quote everyday that I walk to work. It is driven right into the surface of the stone of a lovely little plaza, just as it should be. And whenever I see it I read it and think about it. 

It is:

“We are not permitted to choose the frame of our destiny, but what we put into it is ours.”

Now imagine my delight when, in seeking clarification on this quote, the author of it (you!) turns out to be completely helpful and responsive to all my many letters about its nuances. Your generosity, clarity, and wisdom have meant the world to me, and I finally feel like I really and truly understand this quote in all its depth and richness. Thank you so much.

I have not mentioned this so far, but part of why all of this has been so meaningful to me is because I am a bit of a quote writer myself! I really just dabble so far, maybe nothing worth writing in stone, if you know what I mean. But I do have my dreams.

And I've made a go of it.

I wrote 

"In my past life I was a Buddhist. In this life it's my only one." 

Which I thought was pretty good. I mean maybe not "stone" worthy, but worth sending around to all the big quote anthologies.

No luck.

I wrote

"They really are out to get me, though fortunately they're not too serious about it."

Not bad, right? Still, nothing, not even a paving stone somewhere.

Nevertheless I carried on. I thought maybe I'd try marketing to a large niche audience and came up with:

"If practice made perfect there would be millions of professional golfers."

Readers' Digest didn't even respond to my submission. And that's when it hit me:

It is not my destiny to be a famous. I can do whatever I want, but it is never going to go big time. It is simply not my fate.

Okay. Fine. But you're obviously really smart about stuff like this so I thought I'd ask you:

Do you think there's any way I could change that?


Thanks for all your help.

Yours,


Clerkmanifesto





        

    

The Dag Hammarskjold letters part three

Dear Dag Hammarskjold,


Thank you for the further clarification of your quote that I see every day on my walk to work. As you know from my previous letters your quote is in a mini plaza I pass through, where it is etched in stone, which just goes to show that other people have found it as important and inspiring as I have. In case you forgot it's the one that goes: 

“We are not permitted to choose the frame of our destiny, but what we put into it is ours.”


So I get it now that you can't change the frame of your destiny (thanks, it's so obvious now), and that includes any resizing (thanks again). I also understand that I can put whatever I want into it. But what I'm wondering is, can I put a different frame of my destiny inside the frame of my destiny that I'm given, so long as I can fit it in?

And if I can, do you think it will look weird?


Thanks again for taking the time to help me out with this.


Yours (again),


Clerkmanifesto

The Dag Hammarskjold letters part two

Dear Dag Hammarskjold,


As I recently mentioned, everyday I walk to work through a little plaza that prominently features one of your most illustrious quotes:

“We are not permitted to choose the frame of our destiny, but what we put into it is ours.”

As you have recommended I have been spending a lot of time lately carefully placing things into the frame of my destiny, trying to make sure it's not too cluttered and that nothing sticks out. Unfortunately I think there's something, I don't know, off about it. Something is not quite right no matter what I try. I understand now that it is not possible to change the frame of my destiny, but do you know if there's any way to adjust the size?

Thanks for your help with all this.

Regards,

Clerkmanifesto


 

The Dag Hammarskjold letters part one

Dear Dag Hammarskjold,


When I walk to work in the morning I go through the University. I pass along something called "The Scholars' Walk" where great, honored scholars are memorialized. In the middle of it all is a sort of mini plaza that features a quote, etched lavishly in stone no less.

It's by you!

Well done.

It says “We are not permitted to choose the frame of our destiny, but what we put into it is ours.”

So I wanted you to know I have been totally packing the frame of my destiny with all kinds of stuff, just like you suggested. Unfortunately, no matter what I try I cannot seem to change the frame of my destiny. Surely this can't be right!

Is there some button I'm not seeing?

Any tips you can give on this would be super appreciated.



Regards,

Clerkmanifesto