BS"D

TALMUD BAVLI, MASECHET DEREKH ERETZ RABAH

Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar was coming from his teacher's house in Migdal Eder. He was riding leisurely on his horse when a certain man met him on the way, who was exceedingly ugly. R' Shimon said to him, "Raka (simpleton), how ugly are the children of Abraham our father." The man replied, "What can I do? Speak to the Craftsman Who made me." R' Shimon immediately dismounted from his horse and bowed before the man and said, "I apologize to you, forgive me." He replied to him, "Not until you go to the Craftsman Who made me and say, "How ugly is the vessel which You have made." 
R' Shimon walked behind him for three miles. When the people in town heard of the arrival of R' Shimon, they came out to meet him and greeted him with the words, "Shalom aleicheym, Peace be unto you, rabbi." The other man said to them, "Who are you calling rabbi?" They answered, "The man who is walking behind you." He then exclaimed, "If this man is a rabbi, may there not be any more like him in Israel!" He told the people the whole story, and they begged him to forgive the rabbi, and he agreed, only on the condition that he never act in this manner again.

The story of R' Shimon Ben Elazar & the ugly man teaches us that it is better to be like a reed than a cedar. If you are like a reed, you can stay connected in your place but be blown around, rather than uprooted & smashed like an inflexible cedar. This exercise can gently improve your midot. By "allowing" the Holy One to process out your flaws, & letting other people correct you when you make mistakes, you become more fully your true Self.

This is why Sephardic & Mizrachi sofrim make their kulmusim, their pens for writing Sifrei Torah & other ST"M, out of reeds & not out of stiff wood. Sometimes you are at your strongest, & you stand more firmly in your own truth, when you are willing to bend just a little.