The Farmer and His Sons

I often say that I believe “The whole world stops for a story.” I encourage you to test my theory. The next time you’re in a group conversation, observe what happens when someone says those magical words, “That reminds me of a story.” I expect you’ll see that people almost lean in physically as they react to that ancient promise.

This love of story makes me long to hold onto the golden oldies that are seldom retold, and I’m not talking about my own. Sure, I tell stories, funny stories, inspirational stories, and repeated stories I’ve been fortunate to stack up by the kindness of friends and family. But right now I’m talking about fables that were actually used in classrooms years ago to teach the next generation society’s commonly held virtues. Today, if morals are even mentioned, the discussion is usually left open-ended to allow students to reason out their own opinion of what’s right and wrong. Call me old-fashioned but I believe that’s to our nation’s detriment. What’s more, I’m naïve enough to believe we can still find common ground on many of these virtues despite political, social, or economic differences. At least in my little realm of influence I’m aiming to resurrect these moral driven stories. With that said, I hope you enjoy today’s look at one of Aesop’s fables.

A farmer, being at death’s door, called his three lazy sons to his side and said, “Sons, I’m about to die. I want you to know there’s a hidden treasure buried in my vineyard. Dig and you’ll find it.” As soon as their father was dead, the sons took spade and fork and turned up the soil of the vineyard over and over again in search of the buried treasure. They didn’t find it. However, the vines, after so thorough a digging, produced a crop such as had never been seen before!

The dying farmer didn’t lie. His sons did indeed find a great fortune, just not in the form they expected. They discovered the value of hard work.

Hugs,
Shellie