Of Porcupines and People
by Miki SaxonSometimes good things arrive in my inbox amidst the silly videos and spam.
And so it was yesterday; I was thinking about what to write when this arrived and it seemed the perfect answer—assuming, that is, that you are as tired as I am of the rising tide of hit pieces so prevalent this election.
Fable of the Porcupine
It was the coldest winter ever and many animals were dying because of the cold.
The porcupines, realizing the situation, decided to group together.
This way they covered and protected themselves; but the quills of each one wounded their closest companions, even though they gave heat to each other.
After awhile they decided to distance themselves one from the other and they began to die, alone and frozen.
So they had to make a choice: either accept the quills of their companions or disappear from the Earth.
Wisely, they decided to go back to being together.
This way they learned to live with the little wounds that were caused by the close relationships with their companions, but the most important part of it was the heat that came from the others.
In this way they were able to survive.
Moral of the story:
The best relationship is not the one that brings together perfect people.The best relationship is when each individual learns to live with the imperfections of others as opposed to dying alone in the cold.
What do you think? Will humans live up to the example of porcupines or die alone in the cold?
Flickr image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nostri-imago/2854029427/
October 25th, 2010 at 1:29 am
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February 22nd, 2013 at 1:16 am
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