Stories dont always imitate life
While doing a class in Christian Studies at the university I attended (yes, I know, quite odd for an athiest to be taking Christian Studies, and even odder for that athiest to get the highest mark in the class) I was told a rather interesting tale.
One day, a man was sitting at a river that ran by his village. He was just laying there when he noticed a body floating down the river face down in the water. He wadded into the water and found that the body was actually a man that had been hurt and was dying. So, being the nice human that he was, he patched up the man with bandages, water, food and let him rest in his bed. The next day, the same man was at the river bank again when he saw another body floating down the river. Again, he wadded in and found an injured human in the water. Again, the man tended to the wounds, fed and watered the poor man and let him rest in his house to heal. The man felt good about himself everytime that he went down to the river, saw a hurt soul, fished the wounded out of the river and helped the wounded individual get back on his feet.
This action of going down to the river, finding a wounded soul and patching him up went on for days and days. It got the point that there was even a greater increase in the bodies that were being fished out of the river. It started with two bodies, went up to three, finally to four and now there was a steady stream of bodies coming from the river. It got to the point that the man had to ask the village for help for his deeds. He got volunteers to help bring the men out of the river, volunteers to help bandage the wounds and change the dressings and even volunteers to give their homes to the wounded to rest to heal. The man became a great figure to all those in the village as being a kind and gentle man that was helping the dear souls that were coming down the river and the village felt a sense of pride and happiness for helping these people out.
However, it came to pass that one day, a lone boy was sitting at the river, waiting with the volunteers that helped get the wounded from the river looked at the river and then to the men standing there and asked the simple question "why are these bodies coming down the river? what is happening up there that is causing this hurt and why havent we sent someone up to see about stopping it?"
That is the problem with life. We all have problems, we all see the source and we try to patch up the effects and conquer the source when we can. But, too bad life isnt like a story where there is only one source that causes the pain of the world. Life has many different sources of pain and horror on the world. When you solve one pain, you cause another. Each helping cause always has an effect on the world around them that causes someone else pain. We stop oil production and stop gas production, we stop pollution and the gov't gouging of the pockets of Joe Taxpayer. However, we also stop the jobs of thousands of people in the country, employed to keep the oil flowing. We save the whales and stop killing and trapping for furs, we destroy a livelihood of those around us.
Too bad we don't live in a story book of morals where all is easily solved with just one little knowledgeable and insightful boy saying "look, what don't we just do this?"
One day, a man was sitting at a river that ran by his village. He was just laying there when he noticed a body floating down the river face down in the water. He wadded into the water and found that the body was actually a man that had been hurt and was dying. So, being the nice human that he was, he patched up the man with bandages, water, food and let him rest in his bed. The next day, the same man was at the river bank again when he saw another body floating down the river. Again, he wadded in and found an injured human in the water. Again, the man tended to the wounds, fed and watered the poor man and let him rest in his house to heal. The man felt good about himself everytime that he went down to the river, saw a hurt soul, fished the wounded out of the river and helped the wounded individual get back on his feet.
This action of going down to the river, finding a wounded soul and patching him up went on for days and days. It got the point that there was even a greater increase in the bodies that were being fished out of the river. It started with two bodies, went up to three, finally to four and now there was a steady stream of bodies coming from the river. It got to the point that the man had to ask the village for help for his deeds. He got volunteers to help bring the men out of the river, volunteers to help bandage the wounds and change the dressings and even volunteers to give their homes to the wounded to rest to heal. The man became a great figure to all those in the village as being a kind and gentle man that was helping the dear souls that were coming down the river and the village felt a sense of pride and happiness for helping these people out.
However, it came to pass that one day, a lone boy was sitting at the river, waiting with the volunteers that helped get the wounded from the river looked at the river and then to the men standing there and asked the simple question "why are these bodies coming down the river? what is happening up there that is causing this hurt and why havent we sent someone up to see about stopping it?"
That is the problem with life. We all have problems, we all see the source and we try to patch up the effects and conquer the source when we can. But, too bad life isnt like a story where there is only one source that causes the pain of the world. Life has many different sources of pain and horror on the world. When you solve one pain, you cause another. Each helping cause always has an effect on the world around them that causes someone else pain. We stop oil production and stop gas production, we stop pollution and the gov't gouging of the pockets of Joe Taxpayer. However, we also stop the jobs of thousands of people in the country, employed to keep the oil flowing. We save the whales and stop killing and trapping for furs, we destroy a livelihood of those around us.
Too bad we don't live in a story book of morals where all is easily solved with just one little knowledgeable and insightful boy saying "look, what don't we just do this?"
posted by Capt_Canuck at 9:55 PM
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