There was once a turtle perched upon a post.  He thought it the grandest thing ever.  He could see for miles, and was above the mud and the sordid things where he’d spent his life.  He was above everything and everyone.  He looked down upon all who passed by, while they had to stretch their necks and contort themselves in order to look up to see him.

The turtle felt quite important up there on his post.  Everyone took notice.  He was admired.  He was envied as he regaled the ground dwellers with reports of the sights that he could see.  The turtle felt pride.

The turtle loved the attention he received, but he had a worry.  He couldn’t move for fear of falling.  And falling was the only way that he could get down.

So he basked in the limelight.  The longer he basked, the hungrier and thirstier he became.  Everyone admired him so much that he couldn’t tell them about his problem which was fast becoming a misery.

Because of his lofty vision the mice and the worms, the rabbits and the sheep, the skunks and the frogs all voted to elect him their leader.  The turtle received their adulation with pride, pushed aside his hunger and thirst, and continued to bask.  He believed himself to be some great one.

He’s still sitting there today, wishing that he wasn’t.  As the leader of those below him he has great power, but he knows that his power will instantly vanish when he falls off his post, as he surely must.

Moral:  If you see a turtle on a post,
you know it didn’t get there by itself.

26 August 2018