Mercy, Respect; Or Sensitive Disciplined Thoughtfulness- No. 107. The Boy and the Frogs - The Essential Aesop? - Back to Basics Abridgment Series
Gregg Zegarelli Esq.
Managing Shareholder at Technology & Entrepreneurial Ventures Law Group, PC
"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." ~ Leonardo da Vinci (Adopted by Steve Jobs)
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Some Boys were skipping?pebbles?across a pond.?They were enjoying themselves very much, but the Frogs in the pond were afraid to death.?
Finally, one Frog, the oldest and bravest, put his head?out of the water, and said, “Dear Boys, please stop being so cruel.?Although it may be fun for you, it means death to us.”
Moral of the Story: We oft disregard others for our selfish pleasures. Sensitive respect takes time to consider the future harm.
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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; The Duty of Trust - Stand for America?; Absolute Power Resolves to Self-Interest - No. 53. The Lion's Share – Back to Basics Abridgment Series
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Why We Loved It:?Some lessons teach us science, like how to read a gauge. Other lessons teach us concepts on the art of what to do with gauge information. Anyone can make yellow, because that is the science of it, but not everyone knows how to put yellow to canvas, because that is art of it. Just one drop—exactly right there—makes the genius.
Aesop gives us art, and his genius is in how he teaches the human natural science through the art of expression. Aesop gives us tools to help us reconcile competing conditions of life.
Fables, parables, and allegories are all tools from masters to help us to control situational context, thinking about internals and externals, so that we can make better life decisions. Happiness breeds more happiness, and misery breeds more misery. Aesop remains an icon because the closer that a teaching gets to truth, the more durable and timeless it becomes. And it is 2,500 years of durability for Aesop, which is pretty much as long as forever, as recorded teachings go.
Here Aesop presents two competing interests: the self-interest of the Boys and the self-interest of the Frogs. And, in these competing self-interests, we have much of social life.
The notable difference between the Boys and the Frogs is exactly this: the Boys have power, and the Frogs are vulnerable. [1]
Often, in the context of vulnerability, Aesop teaches how the vulnerable should find their self-power by making wise choices. But, here, the fable suggests that there is no choice for the pleading Frogs, they are vulnerable. [2]
For the powerful, who are protected, by definition, it is easy to be insensitively thoughtless. That is, it is easy for the powerful to be selfish. The powerful can act for their own advantage, not because they are right, but only because they can. It is a rare day when we watch where we walk with concern for the ants.
By metaphor, the Frogs are no less than any social constituency in life who is vulnerable to power, and the Boys are no less than anyone with power.
Aesop once again cleverly uses his characters. Aesop teaches us with a subtle chide by using immature Boys, suggesting that selfishness is an unmatured childish flaw. And, he uses perhaps one of his least seductive animals, being ugly and croakingly annoying Frogs.
Alas, the Boys might naturally stop for beautiful singing Sirens, but that natural self-interested attraction would not support the more subtle point that Aesop is making. Here the ugly croaking Frogs have nothing to offer the powerful immature Boys. The Frogs need mercy.
One of the first things that civilized children are taught by civilized parents is for the children to control themselves; that is, to be disciplined. Indeed, civil courtesy and gesture are acts grounded, in essence, by discipline. The Boys here may have been taught the lesson, but, for the powerful, it is easy—and often convenient and fun—to forget the lesson.
So, we don't know if the Boys are undisciplined or were simply childishly thoughtless. But, either way, that fact is immaterial to the Frogs, whose life and liberty are in jeopardy.
Love is a natural construct, but not so for duty, which is a civil discipline, by definition. Where love exists, sacrifice and mercy flow freely. It has been said, "Where love exists, duty gets a free ride." [3, 4, 5, 6, 7] Without perfect love, it takes discipline, temperance and control.
Power without control is not constructive, but destructive.
The first rule of assessing power is under what circumstances, if any, is it under control. [8, 9] And, it is no less with the power of self. The harmony of the power to do and the power not to do. [10] Thus, the adage, "Viribus optime ostensum est in sua continentia." ("Power is best shown in its own restraint.");
Aesop's student, Socrates [11], says that all Justice starts inside the human being. Internal Justice is the regulator of internal harmony. And, without Justice within, the internally out-of-control human being cannot replicate Justice to the outside.
Justice starts first in self, on the inside. [12] A man without internal justice punishes himself first, and then everyone else.
If we should every wonder why society needs laws, it is because the human being is not self-controlled from within, and, therefore, must be controlled from without. [13] Thusly, every law is perhaps an implied insult to the virtue of humanity.
Often misunderstood, the law is a minimum standard, not to force us to be our best, but to prevent us from doing our worst. [14]
To the greater, a law is immaterial. Self-government begins with government of self. [*12] As Tacitus said, "The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws."
Aesop does not tell us how the Boys responded, but we know they did not think or care to anticipate—perhaps foolishly—causing anxiety and fear in the vulnerable Frogs, insensitively preventing the Frogs' pursuit of a happy existence.
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Perhaps the childish Boys stopped out of respect for the Frogs, perhaps they did not. Perhaps the Boys' parents needed to give them the law, or maybe not. We don't know how the lesson ends, only how it begins.
"The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws." ~Tacitus, Book III, 27
"No man is an?island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the?continent, a part of the?main; any mans?death?diminishes?me, because I am involved in?mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the?bell?tolls; It tolls for?thee." ~John Donne
"Business! Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were all my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!" ~ Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol
"If Men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and the next place, oblige it to control itself." ~James Madison (Father of the U.S. Constitution), Federalist Papers, No. 51.
"It may just an ant's life, but I suppose, to the ant, it's a rather important thing." ~Abraham Lincoln
"Mankind soon learn to make interested uses of every right and power which they possess, or may assume....Human nature is the same on every side of the Atlantic, and will be alike influenced by the same causes. The time to guard against corruption and tyranny, is before they shall have gotten hold of us. It is better to keep the wolf out of the fold, than to trust to drawing his teeth and talons after he shall have entered." ~Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia II, Correspondence 1782-1786
"With malice toward none with charity for all with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right let us strive on to finish the work we are in to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan ~ to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations." ~Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address [15]
In London, King George, III, questioned the American-born painter Benjamin West what George Washington would do now he had won the war. "Oh," said West, "they say he will return to his farm." "If he does that,' said the king, 'he will be the greatest man in the world." [*15]
[5] The History of the Decline and Fall of the American Hegemony—Chapter 7 Excerpt—Wall Street [#GRZ_181] {A
"Lex non est cogere optimum, sed pessimum prohibere." (The law is not to compel the best, but to prevent the worst."); "Iniustus seipsum primo punit, et postea alios." ("A unjust man punishes himself first, and then everyone else."); "Ubi amor est, officium fit eros libero." ("Where love exists, duty gets a free ride.");"Viribus optime ostensum est in sua continentia." ("Power is best shown in its own restraint."); "Prima lex potentiae est quomodo impedita." ("The first law of power is how it is to be controlled.") -grz
*?Gregg Zegarelli, Esq., earned both his Bachelor of Arts Degree and his Juris Doctorate from Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His dual major areas of study were History from the College of Liberal Arts and Accounting from the Business School (qualified to sit for the CPA examination), with dual minors in Philosophy and Political Science. He has enjoyed Adjunct Professorships in the Duquesne University Graduate Leadership Master Degree Program (The Leader as Entrepreneur; Developing Leadership Character Through Adversity) and the University of Pittsburgh Law School (The Anatomy of a Deal). He is admitted to various courts throughout the United States of America.
Gregg Zegarelli, Esq.,?is Managing Shareholder of?Technology & Entrepreneurial Ventures Law Group, PC.?Gregg is nationally rated as "superb" and has more than 35 years of experience working with entrepreneurs and companies of all sizes, including startups,?INC. 500, and publicly traded companies.?He is author of?One: The Unified Gospel of Jesus,?and?The Business of Aesop? article series, and co-author with his father,?Arnold Zegarelli, of?The Essential Aesop: For Business, Managers, Writers and Professional Speakers.?Gregg is a frequent lecturer, speaker and faculty for a variety of educational and other institutions.?
? 2013 Arnold Zegarelli?and?Gregg Zegarelli, Esq.?Gregg can be contacted through?LinkedIn.?Arnold Zegarelli?can be contacted through?Facebook.
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