Fables and Lessons

The Ants and the Grasshopper: The Importance of Thinking Ahead

The Story: A team of ants is working hard all summer to preparefor the harsh, cold winter. Meanwhile, a grasshopper spends the entire summersinging, goofing around, and wondering why the ants work so hard. When thewinter comes, the grasshopper has nothing to eat and nearly starves to death(gruesome for a children's story, huh?). The ants save him and he understandswhy they worked so hard.

 The Lesson: Just because you don't need something right nowdoesn't mean you should put it off. It's okay to take time to enjoy the funthings, but you may not always have the metaphorical ants to save if you. Youdon't want to wait until winter to buy a heater, wait until the day of to buy aplane ticket, write that essay the day that it's due, or start saving money toolate in life. Think ahead, stop procrastinating, and always be prepared forwhat's ahead.

 The Dog and His Reflection: Be Content With What You Have

The Story: A dog is heading home after finding a big, juicy bone.On his way home, he happens upon a river and sees his reflection in the water.He think's he sees another a dog with a bigger, better bone than the one he hasso he barks at the "other" dog to try and get his bone too. When hebarks, his bone falls out of his mouth and he has to go home with no bone atall.

The Lesson: We always want more than we have, but when you takeinventory of your possessions, you might realize that the bone you have isenough. It doesn't mean that you shouldn't strive for bigger and better things,though. You should just be careful about always wanting more. Eventually youmay find that your desire to have your cake and eat it too will lead you toactually having nothing at all.

 The Crow and the Pitcher: Don't Give Up When Things Look Bad

The Story: A crow is flying around on an abnormally hot summer daylooking for water. He comes across a pitcher of water, but when he tries tostick his beak in he can't reach the water. He tries and tries, slowly gettingmore dehydrated. He's about to give up and accept his fate when he has an idea:he drops small pebbles in the pitcher until the water level rises to the pointwhere he can reach it.

 The Lesson: Where there's a will, there's a way. Persistence isthe key to solving any problem you have because eventually—even if thesituation seems dire—you WILL find a solution. Your idea might not be as bad asyou think it is, and is just in need of some iteration. Whatever it is that youwant to do, just keep plugging away. As Wayne Gretzky once said: you miss 100%of the shots you don't take.

Belling the Cat: Execution Is More Important than Ideas

The Story: A family of mice is living in fear of a cat that huntsthem all day and night. Tired of fearing for their lives every second, theydecide to try and think up a plan to help their situation. After some time, oneof the younger mice comes up with a brilliant idea. The mouse suggests thatthey tie a bell around the cat's neck, so they can hear it approach and alwaysbe able to hide in time. All the mice agree, except one: the oldest, wisestmouse. The old mouse agrees that it's a good plan in theory, but asks "whowill be the one to bell the cat?"

The Lesson: Ideas are essential to solving problems, but even moreessential is knowing how to execute the idea. You know that to get into alocked house, you need a key, but without the key it's irrelevant. When youcook up your ideas, either for work or something else, always know how it canbe executed before you present it. If you don't have a good way to execute youridea, it's okay to ask for advice, but never boast about your idea until it'struly ready for prime time.

The Young Crab and His Mother: Lead by Example

The Story: A young crab and his mother are spending the day on abeach's warm sand. The young crab begins to walk around, but can only walksideways in either direction. The mother crab scolds him and tells him to pointhis toes in front of him and walk forwards. The young crab explains that hewould love to walk forward, but he doesn't know how to do it. He asks hismother to show him. The mother crab gets up and tries to walk forward, but shetoo can only walk sideways. She sheepishly apologizes lays back down in thesand.

The Lesson: The concept of "do as I say, not as I do"rarely has the same effect as leading by example. When you're in a leadershipposition you may not always have the opportunity to lead by example, but youshould do it as often as you can. Nobody likes it when you demand they dosomething you can't do. If you can't lead by example, and you need someone todo something that you can't do, ask by explaining their strengths and admiringtheir ability. Instead of saying, "I can't do this, you need to,"you're saying, "I wish I could do this, but you're better at this than Iam. Could you help me out?" Leadership skills can be beneficial in allaspects of life. If you can learn to be a good leader, you have a better shotat becoming one.

The Gnat and the Bull: You're Probably Not as Important as YouThink

The Story: A gnat is buzzing around a meadow and eventuallydecides to rest on the horns of a Bull. After resting for some time, the gnatdecided it was time to go. Before he left, he begged the Bull's pardon forusing his horn as a resting place. The gnat expresses that the Bull must bevery happy that he's finally leaving, and the Bull replies, "It's all thesame to me. I did not even know you were there."

The Lesson:We are often of greater importance in our own eyes thanin the eyes of others. That's not to say you're insignificant, but the selfishthings you say and do can make you look like a fool. The Gnat is trying to bepolite, sure, but really he was just trying to make his presence known. As muchas you might think you're the life of the party, you're probably not. Just beyourself and don't be a Gnat.

 The Hart and the Hunter: Don't Underestimate Yourself

The Story: A deer was drinking from a river and began to admirehis antlers. He then began to think about his hooves, and he wished his hooveswere as big and majestic as his antlers were. To the deer's surprise, a hunterappeared and fired an arrow, barely missing him. The deer took off into thetrees and realized that he was able to get away only because of his small,nimble hooves. He realized how truly great they were, but as he was looking athis hooves, his antlers got caught in some tree branches. The hunter caught upto the deer and just before the he met his fate, he lamented his love for hisantlers and wished he should have realized how great his hooves were sooner.

The Lesson: We often have things about ourselves that we dislike.For example, I hated my voice for the longest time. I couldn't stand hearingrecordings of myself. I thought my deep-ish voice was weirdsounding and I thought other people did too. Later on, though, my voice becameone of my greatest strengths. It earned me radio gigs, a ton of roles in playsand short films, and I eventually found a way to turn it into a voice ofauthority. What we think is our greatest weakness can often be our greateststrength, and having confidence in yourself is important. You just have to findthe utility in it and realize that everyone feels the same way as you aboutsomething.

The Lion, the Ass, and the Fox Hunting: Learn from Others'Failures

The Story: A Lion, Ass, and Fox were all hunting together. Afterthey had acquired a great deal of food, the Lion asked the Ass to divvy up thespoils. The Ass divided the food into three equal parts and asked the Lion tochoose what he wanted. The Lion then attacked and ate the Ass. After hefinished eating, he asked the Fox to divvy up the food. The Fox gathered all ofthe food into one heap and only kept a little for himself. The Lion said,"Ah, friend, who taught you to make so equitable a division?" The Foxreplied that he needed no other lesson than the Ass's fate.

The Lesson: Look at the mistakes others make and take note.Failure is okay, and it's an important part to reaching success that youshouldn't be afraid of, but there's nothing wrong avoiding the steps otherstook to failure. Also, give a lion all of your food if you're in thatsituation.

The Wind and the Sun: Kindness is King

The Story: A dispute arose between the Wind and the Sun about whowas the stronger of the two. They decided to settle the issue by seeing whocould get a passing traveler to take off his cloak first. The Wind blew withall his might, but the harder the Wind blew, the tighter the traveller graspedhis cloak and wrapped it around himself. Then the Sun shined it's soft, kindrays, and as the traveller felt more of the genial warmth, he finally removedhis cloak. The Sun was declared the winner.

The Lesson: The Wind and the Sun are metaphors for brute forceversus persuasion and kindness. A kind and gentle manner will sooner lay open apoor man's heart than all the threatenings and force of blustering authority.If you need something from someone, you'll often be better off being calm,humble, and kind. People respond better to kind words over angry yelling.