Ecclesiastes 2:16-17
…So I said to myself, “If the fate of the fool will also befall me, why should I be wise?” And I said to myself that this too is futile. For there is no lasting remembrance of the wise, just as with the fool, seeing that both will be forgotten in the days to come. How is it that the wise man dies just as the fool! Therefore, I hated life, since for me the work that is done under the sun was vanity to me. For everything is futile and a chase after wind.
Ecclesiastes 5:17-19
Here is what I recognize as good: it is well for us to eat and drink and enjoy all the fruits of our labor under the sun in the limited days of our life which God gives us; for this is our lot. Any to whom God gives riches and property, and grants power to partake of them, so that they receive their lot and find joy in the fruits of their toil, has a gift from God. For we will hardly dwell on the shortness of our lives, because God lets us busy ourselves with the joy of our hearts.
I was so startled when reading these beautiful words on Monday morning that I knew I wanted them to guide this Fridays’ Inspiration. I immediately began to commit them to writing. I guess in my excitement I inadvertently sent out the email with just the above verses and a word or two following. Sorry, but hopefully it served as a good teaser.
The verses, as profound as they may be are not unique. “Am I wise or am I a fool?” is a question that has been pondered universally throughout the ages. The cynical may question the validity of wisdom being a treasure to be sought in light of its inability to provide us escape from mortality. Are we wise or foolish? I believe that just asking that question can set us on the path to wisdom.
Too many in our modern world consider themselves special simply because they perceive themselves by virtue of their intellect as the reigning and dominant species The following tale which has its roots in Ugandan folklore approaches this question of “Am I wise or a fool?” as well as how we can, through giving to others the gifts of care and friendship change our lives and theirs.
Once upon a time there was a potter and his wife who had one child, a little boy, and as he grew older they were grieved to see that he seemed different from all other children.
He never played with them, or laughed, or sang. He just sat alone by himself. He hardly ever spoke to his parents, and he never learned the nice polite manners of the other children in the village. He sat and thought all day, and no one knew what he thought about, and his parents were very sad.
The other women tried to comfort the potter’s wife They said, “Perhaps you will have another baby, and it will be like other children.” But she responded, “I don’t want another baby. I want this one to be nice.” And the men of the village tried to cheer the potter. “Strange boys often become great men,” they said. But one old man said, “Leave the boy alone. We shall yet see whether he will be a wise man or a fool.”
The potter shared with his wife what the men had said, and the boy overheard their conversation. It seemed to wake him up. He thought it over for a few days, and at last one morning at dawn he took his stick in his hand and walked to the nearby forest to think there.
All day he wandered about until at last he came to a little clearing on the side of a hill upon which he could look down over the country. The sun was setting over the distant blue hills, and everything was touched with a pink and golden light, and deep shadows lay on the on the banana gardens and forests in the distance. But the boy saw none of these things. He was footsore and weary and miserable, and he sat down on a fallen log, exhausted from his long day. Suddenly a lion came out into the clearing.
“What are you doing here all alone?” roared the lion.
“I am very miserable,” answered the boy, “and I have come into the forest to think for I do not know whether I am a wise man or a fool.”
“Is that all you think about?” asked the lion.
“Yes,” answered the boy, “ I think about it night and day.”
“Then you are a fool,” said the lion decidedly. “Wise men and women think about things that will benefit the country.” And he walked away.
After a short time, an antelope came bounding out into the clearing and stopped to stare at the boy. “What are you doing here?” he asked.
“I am very miserable,” answered the boy. “I don’t know if I am a wise man or a fool.”
“Do you ever eat anything?” asked the antelope.
“Yes, my mother cooks twice a day and I eat.”
“Do you ever thank her?” asked the antelope.
“No, I have never thought of that.” Answered the boy.
“Then you are a fool!” said the antelope. “Wise men are always grateful.” And he bounded off into the forest.
Next a leopard came upon the clearing and looks suspiciously at the boy.
“What are you doing here?” he asked crossly.
“I am very miserable,” answered the boy. “I don’t know if I am a wise man or a fool.”
“Do they love you in your village?” asked the leopard.
“No, I don’t think that they do,” said the boy with eyes downcast. “I am not like other boys. I don’t know them very well.”
“Then you are a fool,” said the leopard. “All boys are nice; I often wish I were a boy. Wise men mix with their fellows and earn their respect.” And he walked off sniffing.
Just then the big gray elephant came shuffling along the forest path, swinging his tail as he walked, and picking a twig here and a leaf there as he lumbered under the trees.
“What are you doing here all alone in the jungle when the sun is setting?” he asked. “You should be at home in your village.”
“I am miserable,” said the boy. “I do not know if I am a wise man or a fool.”
“What work do you do?” asked the elephant.
The boy responded, “I don’t do any work.”
“Then you are a fool,” said the elephant. “All wise men work.” And he swung away down the path leading to the pool where the animals go to drink, and the boy put his head down in his hands and cried bitterly, as if his heart would break for he did not know what to do.
After a while he heard a gentle voice by his side. “My little brother, do not cry so; tell me your trouble.” The boy raised his tear-stained face and saw a little hare standing by his side.
“I am very miserable,” he said. “I am not like other people, and nobody loves me, I came into the forest to find out whether I am a wise man or a fool and all the animals tell me I am a fool.” And he put his head in his hands again and cried more bitterly than before.
The hare let him cry on for a little while, and then said:
“My little brother, do not cry anymore. What the other animals have told you is true. They have told you to think great thoughts, to be grateful and kind to others, and, above all, to work. All these things are great and wise. The animals are never idle, and they marvel to see how men, with all their gifts, waste their lives. Think how surprised they are to see a boy like you, well and strong, doing nothing all day, for they know that the world is yours if you will just make it so.”
The sun had set behind the distant hills and the soft darkness was falling quickly over the forest, and the hare said, “Soon it will be chilly here. You are tired and hungry, and far away from your village. Come and spend the night in my home and we will talk more of all these things.”
So they went into the forest again, and the hare brought the boy water in a gourd and wonderful nuts to eat, and made him a soft bed of leaves.
And they talked of many things till the boy said, “my father is a potter, and I think I should like to be a potter too.”
“If you are, you must never be content with poor work,” said the hare. “Your pottery must be the best in the country. Never rest until you can make really beautiful things; no man has any right to send imperfect work out into the world.”
“No body will believe in me when I go home; they will think I am mad,” lamented the boy.
And the little hare answered:
“A man’s life is like a river, which flows always on and on. What is past is gone forever, but there is clear water behind. No man can say it is too late, and you are only a boy with your whole life before you.”
They will laugh at me,” said the boy.
“Wise men don’t mind that,” said the hare. “Only fools are discouraged by laughter; you must prove to them that you are not a fool. I will teach you a song to sing at your work. It will encourage you:
When the shadows have melted in silver dawn,
Farewell to my dreams of play.
The forest is full of a waking throng,
And the treetops ring with the bird’s new song,
And the flowers awake from their slumber long,
And the world is mine today.
My feet are sure and my hands are strong,
Let me labor and toil while I may.
When the sun shall set in a sea of light,
And the shadows lengthen far into night,
I shall take the rest which is mine by right,
For I’ll win the world today.”
In the early morning the hare went with the boy to the edge of the forest and they swore an oath of friendship, which is as sacred in the jungle as among men, and the hare said, “Come back sometimes and see me, and we will spend a long day together in the forest. Come to this place and sing my song, and the birds will tell me you are there if I am too far away to hear.”
So the boy went back to his village, and found his mother digging in the garden; he knelt down and greeted her as all the nice children do, and saw how pleased she was. Then he went to his father, and said, “Father, I want to be a potter. Teach me your craft and I will try to learn it.” The father was very pleased to think that he would have a son to take on his trade after him. All the people in the village heard and they rejoiced with the potter and his wife.
The boy worked hard, and after years he became renowned throughout the country for his artistry and craftmanship. People came from every province to buy his pottery, for everyone knew that he never sold anything that was not both beautiful and well made.
But sometimes the old dark moods would return and he would feel sick of his work and all the people around him. When this happened, he would hurry away from the village to the edge of the forest and sing the hare’s song. Soon, his old friend, the hare, would come running down the forest path and the two would spend a long day together, while the man would shake out his heart and all its sorrows to his friend, the hare. In return, he would never fail to get love and comfort and encouragement and always returned to the village and his work with renewed hope and commitment.
This all happened many years ago. Today, men and women think they are much wiser than animals, but sometimes you may see a strange look in the eyes of an animal, as if to say, “That human thinks he is wise, but he’s only a fool.” And the animals in the forests and jungles and in our houses watch everything we do, and they marvel when they see how so many, blessed with so much, waste their lives.
He dares to be a fool, and that is the first step in the direction of wisdom. –James Gibbons Huneker
Have an AWE-Full Weekend!
William “Bill” Bacque