“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” ~ Leonardo da Vinci (Adopted by Steve Jobs)
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In the old days, when men had many wives, a Man had one Wife who was older and one that was younger.
As time went on, the Man’s hair naturally began turning grey.
The younger Wife thought it made him look too old, for she did not want to be thought of as his daughter, so she picked out the white hairs. But, the older Wife saw the grey with pleasure, for she did not want to be thought to be his mother; so she picked out the black hairs.
The consequence was the Man soon found himself without any hair at all!
Moral of the Story: To try to please all is to please none. No matter what we do, it tends to be that some others will disagree. We are oft caught in the cross-hairs of other people’s agendas.
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Introduction – The Essential Aesop – Epilogue
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Why We Loved It: Aesop tells us two lessons with this fable. The first is that, no matter what decision we make, someone will not agree or otherwise be happy about it, so we should just do what we think is the the right decision. The second lesson is that the Man became the vehicle of other people’s own agenda and self-interest. (I say “vehicle” and not “victim” purposefully, because the Man cannot blame others for his own condition.)
The fix is self-confidence, with the failure of self-confidence feeding upon itself. Failure of clarity and confidence in decision-making leads to more problems, and more dilemmas, which then require more hard decisions. The pain comes either way, but more later.
The now-balded Man should have simply followed the lead of Jesus, when Jesus said, “I AM,” meaning that he self-defined by his own unique standard. But, to do that, in a clear, rational, non-stubborn, non-excusing and undeluded manner, is for the few who can be open-minded yet remaining confident in self.
We are reminded that confidence is not nearly the same thing as its imposter to the common, stubbornness. Confidence is virtue, stubbornness is vice. Confidence is open-minded, stubbornness is close-minded.
For all of us, complete acquisition of this ideal is a work in progress, but seeing it is the first step to acquiring it.
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“Everyone pushes over a falling fence.“ ~Chinese Proverb
“I AM.” ~ONE®: The Unified Gospel of Jesus: 1434
“I yam what I yam.” ~Popeye
Ed. Note: To some who might say that the Man “fell uphill” for having been balded, since many men would look better for it, we are reminded, for Aesop’s purpose, that would just be getting lucky, which would contradict the essence of the lesson. On Wisdom and Luck; Or, Getting Lucky is not the Same as Being Wise [#GRZ_155]
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© 2013 Arnold Zegarelli and Gregg Zegarelli, Esq. Gregg can be contacted through LinkedIn. Arnold Zegarelli can be contacted through Facebook.
http://www.linkedin.com/pulse/pleasing-everyone-one-71-man-two-wives-essential-zegarelli-esq-/
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