Line by Line - Verse 22, Line 2

the crooked, straight;
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~

Bend and be straight;
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~

Bend and remain straight
~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~

Learn how to kneel if you want to stand tall.
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~

The image that immediately pops into my head after reading this line is a tree.

Here, on the southwest Washington coast, we encounter a lot of wind storms. It is not uncommon at all to see several hours with gusts in the 40 - 70 mph range. Most all of the trees in the forest behind our house withstand these storms with grace.

The primary reason that they live through season after season of storms is that they know how to bend with the wind. Instead of fighting the gusts, they move with them and, when each storm has blown itself out, there they are standing straight and tall.

A person can learn a lot from a tree!

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