Sunday, June 15, 2008 Mercado: Three stories By Juan L. Mercado Sidebar
(“There is much wisdom in these three simple tales about turtles, frogs--plus monks and a pretty lady,” a Malaysian economist-friend wrote. Read and see if you agree.---JLM )
The Turtles
A turtle family decided to go on a picnic. Being naturally slow, it took them seven years to prepare. Finally, the turtle family left home and on the second year, they found an ideal site.
For six months they cleaned the area, unpacked the picnic basket--–and discovered they had forgotten the salt.
After a lengthy discussion, the youngest turtle was asked to retrieve the salt. After whining, he agreed to go but on one condition: no one eat until he returned. The family consented.
Three years passed, five, six…On the seventh year, the oldest turtle could no longer contain his hunger. He began to unwrap a sandwich.
At that point, the little turtle popped out from behind a tree shouting, “Aha! I knew you wouldn't wait. Now I am not getting the salt.”
(Some of us waste our time waiting for people to live up to our expectations. We are so concerned about what others are doing that we don't do anything ourselves.)
The Frogs
A farmer came into town and asked a restaurant owner: “Could you use a million frog legs?” The shocked restaurant owner asked, “Where would you get so many frog legs?”
“There’s a pond near my house with millions of them,” the farmer replied. “They all croak all night. And they’re driving me crazy!”
So it was agreed the farmer would deliver 500 frog legs weekly.
The first week a sheepish looking farmer delivered two scrawny little frogs.
“Where are all the other frogs?” he was asked. The farmer replied: “I was mistaken. There were only these two in the pond. But they sure made a lot of racket!”
(When somebody pokes fun at you, remember, it's probably just a couple of frogs making a racket...Problems always seem bigger in the dark. Have you tossed in bed overwhelmed by problems-- like a million frogs croaking? Chances are when the morning comes, and you take a closer look, you'll wonder: What was all the fuss about?)
The Pretty Lady
A big monk and a little monk came to a river and found the bridge shattered. They had to wade across. But a pretty girl was also stuck at the damaged bridge.
The big monk offered to carry her across on his back. The lady accepted. The little monk was shocked. “Aren’t we to avoid all intimacy with females?” thought the little monk. But he kept quiet.
On the other side, the big monk let the lady down and they parted ways. As they continued, all kinds of accusations swirled in the little monk’s head. Finally, he exploded: “You seized the first opportunity to touch a woman. All your teachings to me make you a big hypocrite.”
The surprised big monk softly replied: “I put down the lady at the river bank hours ago. How come you’re still carrying her along?”
(This is a very old Chinese Zen story. It reflects the thinking of many people today. We encounter many unpleasant things in our life; they irritate us and make us angry. Oftentimes, they cause us a lot of hurt. Sometimes they embitter us or make us jealous.
(But like the little monk, we are not willing to let go of them. We keep carrying the baggage of the “pretty lady” with us. We let them keep on coming back to hurt us, make us angry, and cause a lot of agony. Why?
(Simply because we are not willing to put down and let go of the baggage. We should let go of the “pretty lady” immediately after crossing the river, that is, after the unpleasant event is over. This will remove our agonies. There is no need to be further hurt by the unpleasant event after it is over.)
