May God bless you

May God bless you with discomfort
at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships,
so that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger
at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people,
so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.

May God bless you with tears to shed
for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation and war,
so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy.

May God bless you with enough foolishness
to believe that you can make a difference in this world,
so that you can do what others claim cannot be done.

-- A Fransiscan Blessing

Comments: discomfort, anger, tears, and foolishness aren't really what one would claim as one's blessings; but they really can be blessings.

This reminds me of one of the findings in my thesis: the scheduling policy that performs worst in normal situations turns out to be one that performs best under extreme conditions. This reminds me of semiconductors too. They suck as conductors at room temperature but they become awesome conductors at high temperatures. This reminds me of idiot savants too! (seen Rain Man yet ?). These are people who suffers from autism that has extraordinary skills in certain domains in spite of cognitive deficiencies in most others. This reminds me of Asperger's syndrome and the geniuses of silicon valley, and of Winston Churchill and his lifelong struggle with depression.

I guess the world is just full of interesting designs where one's weakness in a situation is actually a source of strength in another situation.

So morale of the story: observe your weaknesses carefully. God didn't create you with them just for fun. they may just be your hidden strengths.