Brida (Paulo Coelho) 88

She may only have been twenty-one, but she had already nurtured many enthusiasms, which she had abandoned as quickly as she had taken them up. She wasn't afraid of difficulties; what frightened her was being forced to coose one particular path.

Choosing a path meant having to miss out on others. She had a whole life to live and she was always thinking that, in future, she might regret the choices she made now.

'I'm afraid of committing myself,' she thought to herself. She wanted to follow all possible paths and so ended up following none.

Even in the most important area of her life, love, she had failed to commit herself. AFter her first romantic disappointment, she had never again given herself entirely. She feared pain, loss and seperation. These things were inevitable on the path of love, and the only way of avoiding them was by deciding not to take that path at all. In order not to suffer, you have to renounce love. It was like putting out your own eyes in order not to see the bad things in life.

'Life is so complicated.'

You had to take risks, follow some path and abandon others..........

That was the law of life. That was the Dark Night, and no one could escape the Dark Night, even they never made decision, even they lacked the courage to change anything, because that in itself was a decision, a change, except without the benefit of the treasures hidden in the Dark Night.

'Perhaps the times when it goes wrong are teaching you somehing,' said her father. But Brida was sure that she'd taken the wrong path and there was no way to put things right.

Her father took her by the hand and led her into the living room. There was a large, antique grandfather clock, which had stopped years before because it could no longer repaired.

'Nothing in the world is ever completely wrong, my dear,' said her father, looking at the clock. 'Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.'