Sunday, December 8, 2013

Persist or change course? A curmodgeonly take on cute moral stories.

This post has been brewing for a while, but was prompted by a Facebook post by a dear friend. 
The story goes as follows: donkey is stuck in well. Farmer decides neither well nor donkey is worth the expense of saving. Farmer calls neighbours to help him shovel dirt on top of donkey. Donkey shakes dirt off his back and uses piled up dirt to climb out of well. 

Moral of the story: Never give up, use adversity to your benefit.


Now, I am all in favor of positive thinking and of using adversity to build strength. But this kind of moralizing tale brings out the contrarian in me.


In the case of the donkey, unless he was a sadist capable of burying an animal alive the farmer would have shot it before calling the neighbors to help with the shoveling.


I remember similar homilies from my days in Network Marketing, which I will reminisce about one of these days.


One went like this:

A little fly is buzzing against the glass, desperate to get outside. There is another window that is open, but first the fly has to change course and give up on its useless efforts to get through this glass.

The moral of the story was presented as: Stop trying to make it as a wage slave. Change course, take charge of your life and join my MLM business!


Other ones went like this:

A frog is about to drown in a vat of milk. But before he drowns his desperate paddling creates a clot of butter, and he can jump out.

A miner gives up digging his tunnel mere inches from the vein that would have made him rich.


Moral of these stories:

Don't give up on your network marketing business! You'll make your breakthrough any day now!

Knowing when to persist or when to quit an endeavor is never simple. As a wise person whose identity escapes me said: Every important decision in life has to be taken on the basis of insufficient data. 


For the record: I enjoy buying high quality, unique products from independent distributors. I know some people who are making a living at it. AND I abhor the hype and the relentless
positive posturing.



1 comment:

troutbirder said...

Ya gotta know when to fold....