I heard a fable this week and I couldn't wait for Thursday to roll around so that I can share it with you.
It was written by George Reavis an Assistant Superintendent of the Cincinnati Public Schools in the 1940s.
Once upon a time, the animals decided they must do something heroic to meet the problems of a “new world” so they organized a school. They had adopted an activity curriculum consisting of running, climbing, swimming, and flying. To make it easier to administer the curriculum, all the animals took all the subjects.
The duck was excellent at swimming. In fact, he is better than his instructor. But he made only passing grades in flying and was very poor in running. Since he was slow in running, he had to stay after school and also drop swimming to practice running. This was kept up until his webbed feet were badly worn and he was only average in swimming. But average was acceptable in school so nobody worried about that, except the duck.
The rabbit started at the top of the class in running but had a nervous breakdown because of so much makeup work in swimming.
The squirrel was excellent in climbing until he developed frustration in the flying class where his teacher made him start from the ground up instead of the treetop down. He also developed a “charlie horse” from overexertion and then got a C in climbing and D in running.
The eagle was a problem child and was disciplined severely. In the climbing class, he beat all the others to the top of the tree but insisted on using his own way to get there.
At the end of the year, an abnormal eel that could swim exceeding well and also run, climb, and fly a little had the highest average and was valedictorian.
The prairie dogs stayed out of school and fought the tax levy because the administration would not add digging and burrowing to the curriculum. They apprenticed their children to a badgers and later joined the groundhogs and gophers to start a successful private school.
I found this story to be incredibly fascinating because of how well it depicts us humans which I guess is what a fable is right?
I also found it sad in the sense that it’s such a loose-loose situation, when as unique as we are all created to be, we begin to chip away at ourselves by trying to be what we were not created to be, and we end up being bad at that we were meant to be great at, (like how the duck-an excellent swimmer, ended by being average in swimming because he was trying to be good at flying and running both of which he was also average at) not also not excelling at the alternates selves we are trying to become.
I was going to discuss the economics concepts of comparative advantage and gains from trade to put more context on why it's so important for us all to focus on our strengths but I will leave that for next week as I think this fable is a great standalone and has enough fodder for introspection.
“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.” Dr Suess
Keep going,
Ije
Good reminder to focus on one's gifting and not chase shadows.
Great lesson on authenticity and building on ones stength. Thanks for sharing Ije