Self-Validation and Envy - No. 2. The Frog and the Ox - 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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A Frog?saw the magnificent Ox?and became envious.?
So, the Frog called to his friends, “Look at the Ox.?Yes, yes, he is magnificent, but I could do as well!”?
So the?Frog took a deep breath and puffed himself to twice his own size.?
“Am I now as magnificent?” the Frog asked the others. But, they replied that Frog would still need to do better.?
So, Frog puffed himself up again. But, alas, he was still not as magnificent as the Ox.?
But, the Frog was so envious, that he kept puffing himself up, and kept puffing himself up...until he burst.
Moral of the Story: We need to be true to ourselves, so we do not fail?where we might otherwise succeed.
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Introduction - The Essential Aesop - Epilogue
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Why We Loved It:?Aesop chooses perhaps the quintessential character for puffing up self: the Frog. Aesop tells us that the Frog envied the Ox for Ox's magnificent size.
The difference in this fable from The Horse and the Ass [1] is that, here, the Frog did not learn or have self-revelation along the way, which adduced the Frog's self-destruction. In The Horse and the Ass, the Ass came to a self-understanding, perhaps suggesting wisdom, or a type of it. But not here.
The Frog was foolish for continuing on a path to a futile objective. Moreover, not only was the objective futile, but also the Frog's motive was to satisfy the vices of pride and vanity.
Double the fool: a vain objective that is unobtainable in actuality. That is, a vain objective that is obtainable is one-time foolish, and a virtuous objective that is unobtainable is one-time foolish. But, woe unto the Frog: a vain objective that is not obtainable is double folly.
Self-destruction is only a noble objective for a martyr, or a form of martyrdom, being The Hero. [2] But, alas, here the Frog was a double fool. Such as it is, the tendency for fools: self-destruction, sooner or later.
This fable reminds us first to have noble objectives that are capable of being obtained. The probability of obtaining the objective is a different issue.
Drawing in inspiration by a greater example helps us to improve ourselves. But, here, the Frog was indirectly insulted by his own pride and tried to be something that he simply could never become. Silly Frog.
But, that's not all from Master Aesop. [3] Therefore, as critically-thinking professional adults, let us go further with the lesson.
A child's lesson is simply not to try to be something we're not. An educated adult's lesson is critically to think about the isolation of two-part test of virtue in the objective matched to the objective's obtainability.
But, there's one more step, for those who can get there, and these are the few: a sublime lesson reserved for a master; to wit:
For the master, let us be careful, and watch astutely, to gain a perception of a critically important and subtle attribute of this fable. It's both easy and common to miss, and it implicitly contradicts a common narrative of feel-good inspiration: The role of Hope.
This is the lesson for a master, because it is the lesson that we disdain to know.
What is incredibly subtle in this and many of the Aesop's fables is the role of Hope, which tends to be a general rule of indoctrinated foolishness, much of which derives as a corollary to religious indoctrination imposed upon us from youth. [4] Therefore, we don't think about it, although we must. This is not to insult the goodness of religion where it exists, but to escape it for critical-thinking exercises, as wisdom and delusion do not sit in the same space. [5] Hope is such as the exception where wisdom deems necessary, not the rule. Hope's usurpation of wisdom is human disharmony by misplacement of roles and misuse of tools.
Hope is a religious Christian Virtue, not a philosophical Socratic virtue. [*4]
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The reason that hope it is not a Socratic virtue is because hope is a form of, or corollary to, emotion. [*4] Hope beguiles us away from its emotive essential nature. Hope has the job of inspiration, but not delusion. Think about it, carefully. Hope, like love and other emotions (ex-motion, to move out), are wind in our sails, but not the rudder. Hope, like fire, is a great slave, but a terrible master. Hope is wisdom's hand-maiden. Love and hope can be as constructive as destructive, when contradicting wisdom. Hope is a dreamer. Thus the adages, "Spes tatam nos." ("Hope will mess us up.") and "Spes est plus-aestimavit." ("Hope is over-rated.") [6, 7]
Indeed, hope will mess us up if it is unwise to hope. Hope is great wind in the sails, to do the job as the rudder commands.
Behold it, the master perceives even more: the Frog as not two-times the fool, but rather three times the fool: to wit:
A vain objective that is obtainable is one-time foolish, and a virtuous objective that is unobtainable is one-time foolish. But, woe unto the self-destroyed Frog: a vain objective that is not obtainable with continued delusive hope. Triple folly.
The Frog, three times the fool. Yes, too much puff will blow us over or blow us up.
Qui invidet minor est. ("He who envies, admits his inferiority.") Latin Proverb
"Sui ipsius destructio nobilior tantum obiectio est martyri vel martyrii forma, utpote Heros." ("Self-destruction is only a noble objective for a martyr, or a form of martyrdom, being the Hero."); "Spes tatam nos." ("Hope will mess us up."); "Tu scis quod incipias cognoscere lectionem, cum id scire times." ("You know that you are starting to understand the lesson, when you are afraid to know it."); "Sapientia et delusio non sedent in eodem spatio." ("Wisdom and delusion do not sit in the same space."); "Spes talis est exceptio, non regula." ("Hope is such as the exception not the rule.); "Spes exceptio, non regula." ("Hope is the exception not the rule.); "Spes somniantis." ("Hope is a dreamer."); "Spes est plus-aestimavit." ("Hope is over-rated."); "Spes est ancillae sapientiae." ("Hope is wisdom's hand-maiden.") ~ 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 Gregg Zegarelli, Esq.?and?Arnold Zegarelli. Gregg can be contacted through?LinkedIn.?Arnold Zegarelli?can be contacted through?Facebook.
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