A Parable for the Wise

Once upon a time, a few men decided to build a house for many people to live.

They wanted to ensure that everyone had a roof over their heads and food to eat and space to live their lives.

The work was very difficult.

They had no idea how many people would eventually come to live in this house so they had to make certain that the foundation they laid would be strong enough for the unknown numbers who would come in the future.

They came up with a wonderful idea that would ensure that the building would stand strong no matter how tall it grew.

This idea required each person staying on whichever level to keep strengthening the walls and beams of his floor with his neighbours so that it became stronger than before.

Thus the more the tower grew the more the people had to ensure that their connecting beams and girders were strengthened even more.

They had to dig deep in the hard ground. They had to fight off enemies and neighbours who hated them and their goal, and wished to stop them.

But they continued undaunted. And the house began to come up.

One floor was laid, and then another.

People started living there and contributing to building more floors.

It was not perfect.

There were many problems.

But they believed in the dream and were loyal to the goal.

There were some people who were jealous and hated them.

They did not help in the back-breaking work that had to be done in the beginning.

They stood aside and watched.

They passed comments, insults and jibes.

They often tried to sabotage the work.

But when they saw that the work would not stop they adopted a different strategy.

They decided to join the work and sabotage it from within,

The simple people who were building the house did not realise that this group had a different agenda.

They welcomed them gladly thinking they had had a genuine change of heart.

But as years passed this evil group placed themselves in strategically important positions and began to influence the decisions.

A time came when the memory of the dream of the original builders began to fade.

Instead this group, now began to spread their own dream.

They turned the people against one another.

They made the people scorn and hate the original builders.

They questioned every decision and work done by the early builders.

Having the benefit of hindsight they pointed out all the mistakes that the early builders had made.

As the building had now grown very tall, they began to boast and say that it was THEIR efforts that had brought such great success.

The simple people believed their lies.

A new leader was appointed.

The evil group kept extolling the virtues of the new leader and hiding all his faults and flaws.

Soon the people forgot the past and the ones who had started the work, their labour, their sacrifices.

They forgot the idea that the founders had given to keep the tower strong.

They neglected the connecting beams and girders.

The tower was becoming weaker but the growing weakness was not readily visible.

The new leader boasted and strutted about saying that it was he who had done all the good work.

Nobody remembered that these people had not participated nor contributed when the foundation was being laid.

A few who remembered were thrown aside or cast out of the house. They were deprived food and freedom to live their lives. They were painted as the ENEMY.

The common people began to fear and worry for their homes and lives.

They began to view each other as enemies.

They completely forgot about the need to strengthen the beams and girders that connected them to each other and made every level stronger.

The new leaders did not realize their folly.

Even when someone tried to warn them, they simply scoffed and ridiculed the people who warned.

Not only that they got angry and put them in a prison.

But as the tower increased in height, it now had to face and bear the brunt of winds that blew high above the ground.

It began to totter. It began to sway.

Those who could, began to leave and run away to other buildings.

But the new leaders, drunk with power, did not see the warning signs.

When they saw storm clouds on the horizon they hailed them as rain clouds.

And the people?

The people kept quiet because now each only cared for himself and his own family.

Nobody cared for the tower any more. They painted it and made it look pretty from outside, but inside the tower weakened daily.