Line by Line - Verse 9, Line 5

When the work is done, and one's name is becoming distinguished,
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~

Retire when the work is done.
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~

When achievement is completed, fame is attained Withdraw oneself
~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~

Do what you have to do, then walk away.
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~

I can think of many times in my life when I have done my utter best, but I try to add one little cherry on top of the effort. It's like that game in which you pile blocks on top of each other and, at some point, one of the players adds one block too many and the whole thing comes tumbling down! If I could only teach myself to leave well enough alone and simply to walk away when the task is completed, I could sure save myself a lot of heartache!

Like most people I know, the ego gets in the way. In one form or another, we each crave recognition and plaudits. We want to be told, "Way to go!" or "You're the best"" or "We couldn't have done it without you!"

But our drive to be valued often obscures what we aim to accomplish. When we are focused predominantly on what we hope to get out of any endeavor, our total attention isn't genuinely on the matter at hand...and it shows!

To view the Index page for this series to see what you may have missed or would like to read again, go here.