“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” ~ Leonardo da Vinci (Adopted by Steve Jobs)
A Charcoal Burner worked as usual, and he noticed the cloth-cleaning Fuller, also working.
The Coal Burner entreated the Fuller to come and live with him, pleading that they would be quite the better for joining and sharing expenses.
The Fuller replied, “But, whatever I should whiten, you would immediately blacken.”
Moral of the Story: Change self, change the other, or change the situation. If people cannot be changed, then wisdom requires situational management.
Introduction – The Essential Aesop – Epilogue
Why We Loved It: Aesop combines a few concepts that were more isolated in prior fables. In The Two Pots, Aesop taught of the dangers for the weaker partner in joining with a stronger partner, in The Farmer and the Stork, he showed the risk of being impugned by bad company, and, in The Hare with Many Friends, he distinguished between being friendly with being friends.
In this fable, the Coal Burner wants to live with the Fuller (a clothing cleaner), which is certainly a friendly gesture. The problem is that the Coal Burner cannot keep things clean by necessity, and the Fuller must keep things clean by necessity, which are directly contradictory goals. It is simply a bad match of association.
If neither the Coal Burner nor the Fuller can change self, then the only solution is to change (or prevent) the situation. By his character choice, Aesop is telling us that neither character can change self, so wisdom requires situational management.
Such as in The Two Pots, the Coal Burner provides the invitation, but that is an easy decision for the Coal Burner: the Coal Burner does not have risk in the association. Indeed, clean clothes is not an incident of the Coal Burner’s professional goals. Therefore, it is all upside for the Coal Burner. However, for the Fuller, the association has a significant downside: the closer the association, the more the Fuller’s professional goals are contradicted. It is of no negative consequence to the Coal Burner, if the Fuller must work harder, or if everything should turn grey.
Aesop teaches us to be careful about invitations that place us at risk. To think ahead. And, here, he presses for us to be careful about our influencers. It’s not necessarily that the Coal Burner will destroy the Fuller, but that the Coal Burner will contradict the Fuller by dirty influence, spot by spot. Here, the Coal Burner may be selfish or self-centered, but he is not necessarily foolish, and even perhaps wise to take a shot at what is in his own interest. The test in this fable was for the Fuller, who wisely thought ahead and prevented the influence.
The clothing in this fable is the metaphor for our mind.
Contradictory associations and the related influence can be noble, such as pulling someone from the metaphorical ditch, but we’re responsible first to determine if we’re pulling down or pulling up. That is, to see our influence for what it really is.
“When friendship is settled, you must trust; before friendship is formed, you must pass judgment. Those persons who put the last first, and the first last, confound their duties.” ~ Seneca
“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference.” ~ Reinhold Niebuhr (attr.)
“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” ~ Jim Rohn.
ChatGPT Review
Let’s deep-dive into Gregg Zegarelli’s “Influencers and Situational Management – No. 93 – The Coal Burner and the Fuller”, drawing out the ethos, pedagogical method, and conclusion, with a layered analysis.
🔍 Summary of the Fable
A Coal Burner asks a Fuller (a launderer or cloth cleaner) to live with him to share expenses. The Fuller wisely declines, noting that the Coal Burner would undo everything the Fuller does—he would blacken what the Fuller whitens. The moral:
“Change self, change the other, or change the situation. If people cannot be changed, then wisdom requires situational management.”
🧭 1. Zegarelli’s Ethos: Philosophical and Strategic Foundations
a. Moral Relativism with Duty Awareness
Zegarelli doesn’t render moral judgment on the Coal Burner. He notes the Coal Burner may be selfish or even strategically wise—after all, it costs the Burner nothing to ask. This nuanced moral relativism shows that Zegarelli’s ethos is not absolutist—it permits self-interest, provided the cost is not deceitful or destructive.
- The Coal Burner operates on a “no-downside, possible-upside” decision model.
- The ethical duty lies with the Fuller, who bears risk and must exercise situational wisdom.
This aligns with Zegarelli’s recurring theme: Responsibility is on the party with more to lose or the one most likely to suffer by influence or association.
b. Influence Theory and Internal Sovereignty
Zegarelli uses this fable to teach that influence is not always overt coercion. Influence may be incidental and accumulative—like charcoal dust. Spot by spot, slowly but surely, association affects outcomes.
“The clothing in this fable is the metaphor for our mind.”
In Zegarelli’s ethos, mental cleanliness and intellectual discipline are paramount. Your associations are not merely company—they are conditioning agents. This is a profound expansion of the Aesopic lesson.
🎓 2. Pedagogical Strategy
a. Cross-Fable Thematic Integration
Zegarelli builds a layered lesson using fables previously treated as standalone:
- The Two Pots: Unequal risk in partnerships
- The Farmer and the Stork: Guilt by association
- The Hare with Many Friends: Superficiality in relationships
He then synthesizes them into a meta-lesson: relationships are not merely about goodwill or invitations—they are about risk symmetry, influence potential, and situational alignment.
b. Dialectic Framing: Self v. Situation
Zegarelli frames the fable as a situational decision tree:
- Can the self be changed?
- Can the other be changed?
- If neither, then change the situation.
This is not just a fable—it becomes a decision-making heuristic. The pedagogy evolves from narrative entertainment into strategic life guidance, much like a simplified version of SWOT analysis for personal associations.
c. Quote-Backed Layering
He closes with supporting philosophical layers:
- Seneca on the ordering of trust and judgment.
- Niebuhr’s Serenity Prayer as a condensed version of the decision tree.
- Jim Rohn on the effect of social averages.
This triplet of quotes transcends the fable itself and orients the reader toward practical daily vigilance, while reinforcing the moral with time-tested wisdom.
🧠 3. Deeper Philosophical Implications
Zegarelli is implicitly drawing a line between:
- Situational relationships (externalized, adaptable),
- And identity relationships (internal, guarded).
The Coal Burner’s occupation marks him—not in profession only, but in the ontological impact of daily repetition. The black soot isn’t just on clothes; it’s a symbol of invisible influence that others wear, even if unwillingly.
🧾 4. Conclusion: The Fable as Psychological Armor
This fable is a parable of boundaries. Zegarelli reframes Aesop’s ancient parable not just as a lesson in partnership risk, but as a call to:
- Protect the psyche from passive degradation.
- Be strategic in association, especially when the risks are environmental rather than intentional.
- Decline even well-meaning offers if they invite cumulative contradiction of purpose.
The fable teaches not only the discernment of intentions but also the preemptive avoidance of structural incompatibility—a distinctly Zegarellian twist, where wisdom is about preserving function by identifying contradiction.
🔑 Take-Away:
“Influence is not always malicious—it is often natural and inevitable. Wisdom is knowing when even natural influence must be denied.”
20250424.4o
© 2013 Arnold Zegarelli and Gregg Zegarelli, Esq.
LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/pulse/influencers-situational-management-93-coal-burner-zegarelli-esq-/
Related Articles:
- [54] Same for You, Same for Me – The Business of Aesop™ No. 48 – The Two Pots [GRZ54] [LinkedIn #GRZ_54]
- [98_19] The Company We Keep. No. 19. The Farmer and the Stork – The Essential Aesop™ – Back to Basics Abridgment Series [GRZ98_19] [LinkedIn #GRZ_98_19]
- [98_84] True Friendship. Or, Being Friendly v. Being Friends. – No. 84. The Hare with Many Friends – The Essential Aesop™ – Back to Basics Abridgment Series [GRZUID98_84] [LinkedIn #GRZ_98_84]
- [98_48] Choosing Partners – No. 48. The Two Pots – The Essential Aesop™ – Back to Basics Abridgment Series [GRZUID98_48] [LinkedIn #GRZ_98_48]
- [183] The ONE LinkedIn Reference Set Index [GRZ183] [LinkedIn #GRZ_183] ONE: 1325 [T15:14] (“Blind Lead Blind-Ditch“)
GRZ98_93.20250424 GRZUID98_93