“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” Leonardo da Vinci. (Adopted by Steve Jobs.)
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A Kid was perched up on the rooftop of a house, and, looking down, spied a Wolf passing below.
The Kid yelled at the Wolf, “You are a murderer and thief!”
The Wolf, snarling from down below, retorted, “You may curse away, my young friend, by the protection of that roof, but you would not say that if you were down here next to me!”
Moral of the Story: It is easy to be brave from a safe distance.
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Introduction – The Essential Aesop – Epilogue
Related Articles: Empathy to Understanding. No. 20. The Sheep and the Pig – The Essential Aesop™ – Back to Basics Abridgment Series; Epilogue: On the Wisdom of Aesop; When Was America Great? – Stand for America®
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Why We Loved It: This fable is particularly important in the new isolated COVID-Internet social media world.
In Aesop’s Empathy to Understanding. No. 20. The Sheep and the Pig, there was a similar framework for the fable, but a different lesson.
In the Sheep and the Pig, the Sheep talked a good game, but, in that fable, the Sheep were condemning the Pig without the potential to be the subject of similar danger. Therefore, the Sheep lacked understanding of, or empathy for, the Pig’s squealing plight; that is, failing in the empathetic understanding of the difference between taking the Sheep’s wool and taking the Pig’s bacon.
Here, the Kid is talking a good game, and would be the subject of danger, but for protections of remote proximity—that is, being on the rooftop. Thus, the Wolf effectively retorting, “Come down here and say that, nose-to-nose!” Where this fable becomes more complex is when analyzed within the framework of the wisdom or foolishness by subsequent action, such as if the Kid actually does go down and does say that again “nose to nose,” which is discussed in some detail in the Epilogue: On the Wisdom of Aesop.
The prime lesson here, which is similar to The Sheep and the Pig, is that it is very easy to talk the talk, when we don’t actually have to walk the walk. The difference is in the vice. In the Sheep and the Pig, the vice was failure of empathy, which is a failure of wisdom and temperance. Here the vice is the failure of fortitude, or bravery.
In a Facebook World, talking has become significantly more easy relative to the related action or risk. Online posts are full of condemnations, remote bullying, ridicule, hatred, and, a lot of self-interested hypocritical talk about the “other guy” lacking empathy. There’s a lot of hypocritical hate implied by the people judging others. All from the convenient remote protection of the computer terminal.
Even if a person who posts a ridiculing, condemning or hateful post, would the person convey that conclusive judgmental position to the targeted person nose-to-nose and in exactly the same way? Facebook is replete with condemning posts, particularly political posts. Aesop raises the question of whether the social media poster would actually convey that message—often posted with disdain and puerile disrespect—with the same words and manner to the target, such as to Hillary Clinton, President Obama or President Trump, nose-to-nose?
Perhaps or perhaps not, each to answer for himself or herself. But, such is the exponential effect of the COVID-Internet isolated coddled world that incubates a failure of character and cowardice. And, this renewed timeless lesson is the continued subject of Aesop’s 2,000 year old fable.
“The older I get, the less I listen to what a man says, and the more I watch what they do.” ~Henry Ford
Walk a Mile in His Moccasins (excerpt), Mary T. Lathrap, 1895
Pray, don’t find fault with the man that limps, Or stumbles along the road. Unless you have worn the moccasins he wears, Or stumbled beneath the same load. There may be tears in his soles that hurt, Though hidden away from view. The burden he bears placed on your back, May cause you to stumble and fall, too.
Don’t sneer at the man who is down today, Unless you have felt the same blow, That caused his fall or felt the shame, That only the fallen know. You may be strong, but still the blows, That were his, unknown to you in the same way, May cause you to stagger and fall, too.
Don’t be too harsh with the man that sins. Or pelt him with words, or stone, or disdain. Unless you are sure you have no sins of your own, And it’s only wisdom and love that your heart contains. For you know if the tempter’s voice, Should whisper as soft to you, As it did to him when he went astray, It might cause you to falter, too.
Just walk a mile in his moccasins, Before you abuse, criticize and accuse. If just for one hour, you could find a way, To see through his eyes, instead of your own muse.
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© 2020 Gregg Zegarelli, Esq. Gregg can be contacted through LinkedIn. Arnold Zegarelli can be contacted through Facebook.
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