I heard a nice story/ parable from India once. It set me up to see things as they may become if too much advice or input is taken, even on trivial matters.An addict like me can, under the pretense of openmindedness, decide by default !

 So here it is.

Raja the washerman is resting in his house on a warm Sunday afternoon. He can hear and smell his pretty wife Rani  cooking in the kitchen and looks forward to a nice lunch. He can also hear his little boy playiing in the next room and feels good. He can hear his donkey Babu snore in the backyard and thinks
"he deserves that rest after a weeks hard work". (Donkeys are like mules, hard working, forebearing, uncomplaining creatures, a must for a washerman in India).

Our man is about to doze when he has a thought
"How nice !"

Then his wife comes in and says
"Relaxing are you ? Lunch is served".
 The family sits down to a nice cosy meal.

Then the wife says
"Well I thought that Id ask you to go to the fair and buy me that saree( garment) that youve been promising me".

"Cant' we do it as a family after this ?" asks the washerman.

"No, my childhood friend Maya is in town and we want to catch up."

Our man thinks
"ok, so that will give me time to be by myself and sort things out in my mind"

After the meal, our man gets up to go and his wife says
"Take sonny too, Im sure he will be thrilled by the sights".

So Sonny goes along too. Then, as they are leaving the house the wife says
" Take Babu (donkey) along too, Sonny may get tired and want to ride".
So along goes Babu the donkey too.

A furlong down the road, they pass a crowd in a tea shop. Someone in the tea shop say out loud
"What an unthinking man, getting that lad to walk when they have a donkey to ride".
The washerman gets Sonny onto the donkey.

They ramble along and at another furlong is a barber shop. As they pass, one wisecrack yells out
"Why are you wasting Sunday by walking ? You ride that donkey too!"

So Raja gets on the donkey too.

Along another furlong is the local tavern. Needless to say, being Sunday, there is a loud buzz there. Some chaps ae sitting outside, drinking and laughing raucously. 
As Raja, Babu and sonny pass the tavern, one guy laughs and says derisively
"What an unfair world this is. !! That prro donkey not only has to lug overloads along the whole week but is denied rest and made to carry a double load on Sunday too. In all fairness to that beleagured animal, it should be the one thats being carried".

Without a thought, Raja and sonny get off and Raja begins to carry Babu the donkey on his head.

He walks along and is thinking
"I wish I had said no to Rani and just stayed home" and is feeling weird.
He can hear the whole street is laughing at him !!!

The moral of the story is that advice that comes from those sources are worthless and a man who pays attention to that is certain to be called a fool and laughed at !

Just like "shoemaker, stick to thy last",  "washerman be thy self".

Self-centered fear can keep me from making informed, healthy wise choices !

-- Edited by Raman on Friday 18th of September 2009 06:24:39 PM