I love Aesop’s Fables. When I was a kid, it was my favorite thing to hear during story time. I read this week where scientist have proven one of the fables as true. Huh. Well, I’ve known that for many years. The old boy knew his stuff. And one thing he knew about was Kindness.
Aesop told a fable about the wind and the sun having an argument. Which was stronger, as I recall. The sun made a bet that the one who could make a man take of his coat was the strongest. The wind went first. The sun hid behind a cloud. The wind blew and blew, but the harder and more fierce the wind blew, the tighter the man held on to his coat. Finally, exhausted, (pun intended) the wind gave up. The sun’s turn was next. He came out from behind the clouds and shone on the man. The man quickly took off his coat. Moral of the story? Warmth, friendliness, and a gentle touch are always stronger than force and furry.
So it is with our daily walk. Do you see how these fruits are building. Love leads to joy, which brings peace, allowing for patience and endurance that will manifest itself as kindness. Listen, you’ve got to "try a little kindness." The stuff is addictive!
Remember Glenn Campbell? Back in the 70’s he crooned...
You’ve got to try a little kindness
Yes, try a little kindness,
Just shine your light for everyone to see
And if you try a little kindness,
You’ll overlook the blindness
Of narrow-minded people, on the narrow-minded streets
Not bad advise at all!
Showing posts with label Aesop's Fables. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Aesop's Fables. Show all posts
Monday, May 5, 2014
Monday, August 3, 2009
The Ant and the Grasshopper
OLD VERSION:
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks he's a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.
MORAL OF THE STORY:
Be responsible for yourself!
MODERN VERSION:
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks he's a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving. CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.
America is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so? Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper, and everybody cries when they sing, "It's Not Easy Being Green." Jesse Jackson stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing, "We shall overcome." Jesse then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake. Barbra Boxer and Nancy Pelosi exclaim in an interview with Brian Williamsthat the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his "fair share."
Finally, the EEOC drafts the "Economic Equity and Anti-Grasshopper Act," retroactive to the beginning of the summer. The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the government.
Hillary gets her old law firm to represent the grasshopper in a defamation suit against the ant, and the case is tried before a panel of federal judges that Barak Obama appointed from a list of single-parent welfare recipients during his administration. The ant loses the case. The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ant's food while the government house he is in, which just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around him because he doesn't maintain it.
The ant has disappeared in the snow. The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood.
MORAL OF THE STORY:
Vote Republican
Check it out! This fits under the "told you so." category
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama's treasury secretary said Sunday he cannot rule out higher taxes to help tame an exploding budget deficit, and his chief economic adviser would not dismiss raising them on middle-class Americans as part of a health care overhaul.
full text:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/2-Obama-officials-No-apf-2491158742.html?x=0&.v=7
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks he's a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.
MORAL OF THE STORY:
Be responsible for yourself!
MODERN VERSION:
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks he's a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving. CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.
America is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so? Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper, and everybody cries when they sing, "It's Not Easy Being Green." Jesse Jackson stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing, "We shall overcome." Jesse then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake. Barbra Boxer and Nancy Pelosi exclaim in an interview with Brian Williamsthat the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his "fair share."
Finally, the EEOC drafts the "Economic Equity and Anti-Grasshopper Act," retroactive to the beginning of the summer. The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the government.
Hillary gets her old law firm to represent the grasshopper in a defamation suit against the ant, and the case is tried before a panel of federal judges that Barak Obama appointed from a list of single-parent welfare recipients during his administration. The ant loses the case. The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ant's food while the government house he is in, which just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around him because he doesn't maintain it.
The ant has disappeared in the snow. The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood.
MORAL OF THE STORY:
Vote Republican
Check it out! This fits under the "told you so." category
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama's treasury secretary said Sunday he cannot rule out higher taxes to help tame an exploding budget deficit, and his chief economic adviser would not dismiss raising them on middle-class Americans as part of a health care overhaul.
full text:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/2-Obama-officials-No-apf-2491158742.html?x=0&.v=7
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