"Once upon a time there was a master violin maker. His instruments were exquisite, and the sound that could be drawn forth from them was beyond description. He only accepted a small number of apprentices, and he took them through the long and arduous process of making a violin from the choice of the tree to how to string the piece at the very end, after the varnish. There was one apprentice, an especially adept one, who had trouble with only one aspect of the process: the choice of wood. He had mastered all the other levels but would balk at the choice of which tree to mark and cut to form the base of the violin. Finally the master took him out to the forest again.
"It was the dead of winter, a frightfully cold and windy day, with snow swirling and ice thickly hung in all the trees. They walked north and the master starting marking out the trees.
" 'Why?' the apprentice queried. 'Why these?'
"The master answered, 'They face due north and they take the brunt of the wind, the chill, and the ice. They make the best violins.'
"They returned. The storm grew stronger, and the student asked his teacher, 'Master, doesn't it bother you to think about the trees that you marked standing alone in the wind, standing against all this ice and fury? Have you no pity for them?'
"The master eyed him and smiled, 'No, not at all. You see, they are being tuned!' "
To Practice: Gandhi once said, "I love storms." He believed trials and tribulations brought out the best in him. When have troubles enabled you to become a more loving and sensitive person?