Tao story

http://www.itmonline.org/shen/chap2.htm


... 'I have a big tree,' said Hui-tzu to Chuang-tzu. 'Its huge trunk is so gnarled and knotted that no measuring string can gauge it, and its branches are so bent and twisted they defy compass and square. It stands right beside the road, and still carpenters never notice it. These words of yours [referring to the stories of Chuang-tzu recorded in this chapter], so vast and useless, everyone ignores them the same way.'
Chuang-tzu replied [after giving examples of his point]: 'Now, you've got this huge tree, and you agonize over how useless it is. Why not plant it in a village where there's nothing at all, in a land where emptiness stretches away forever? Then you could be no one drifting lazily beside it, roam boundless and free as you doze in its shade. It won't die young from the axe. Nothing will harm it. If you have no use, you have no grief.

The tree that is logically useful (its wood is desirable) will be cut down; the tree that is logically useless (its wood too gnarled to be of value) is spared. So, which is better? To be useful or useless? And who is to decide whether something is useful: the gnarled tree serves just fine for shade and is not in danger of being cut down for its wood.

In Chapter 22 of the Tao Te Ching, Lao-tzu says (3):
Wise men embrace the one, and set an example to all. Not putting on a display, they shine forth; not justifying themselves, they are distinguished. Not boasting, they receive recognition, not bragging, they never falter. They do not quarrel, so no one quarrels with them.

The tree, in the story above, may be huge, but carpenters never notice it. The Taoist is likewise unnoticed because he does not try to call attention to himself; not calling attention to himself, no one quarrels with him. But, this does not mean that he is without value. Like the Tao, he is "great," like the tree, he can provide welcome relief (shade) and a break from desolation (absence of wisdom and virtue). He is not so useless after all. How many people fret over not being as "great" as another or as they dream to be, feeling depressed about it, yet can do things that are truly important for another person, and so they are doing their part?