Saturday, May 30, 2009

The Fortune Cookie

So, we've had some interesting fortune cookies over the years--Becky swears she got one that said, "You will be married soon," just after we started dating--but one I got at a Vietnamese restaurant last week takes the cake for interestingness if not for its predictive power:  Worry not that no one knows of you seek to be worth knowing.  After puzzling over that for some time, I still have no idea what it means, and maybe that's the point:  make a fortune vague enough, and the recipient will find in it whatever meaning he or she wants to find.  Hmm. Maybe it means:  you're an ambitious son-of-a-gun, but don't sweat it, because nobody cares.  Ouch!  That hits a little near the mark.  Maybe those Chinese are on to something . . . 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Maybe it's not a fortune that it's giving you this time, but rather... advice. Maybe they meant to put a period between "you" and "seek." That's my take. (But then I'm supposedly not qualified to give my two bits because my last cookie said "This is not the time for you to give counsel, but to follow the counsel of others." It'soooo not what a mom or a wife wants to hear at the end of their honorary mother's day dinner. It should have just said, "Thanks mom... now keep your mouth shut.")

Tim said...

Ah, yes, you're probably right, Shannon, though that kills the magic of trying to read the tea leaves. I think I prefer fortunes that tell fortunes and don't offer advice. (What can I say? Year of the Boar--I'm stubborn!)