Once upon a time, long ago and far away, a Buddhist monk was resting from the heat of the day beneath a banyan tree.
As the afternoon wore on and the air became cooler, he resumed his journey.
Several miles later, he discovered an ant frantically scurrying over his robe. He realized that the only place the ant could have crawled onto his robe was when he had rested beneath the banyan tree.
Now, ants are communal creatures and cannot survive on their own.
"Poor ant," thought the monk. "I will return you to your nest beneath the banyan tree. You will live out your days with your family and I will accrue merit for my good deed."
The monk then reversed his steps until he came to the very banyan tree beneath which he had rested. He saw the minute movements in the grass indicative of ant activity, and gently deposited his passenger near the nest.
Now, ants are not only communal creatures, they are also highly *territorial* creatures.
The monk had rested against the mossy side of the banyan tree.
He deposited the ant on the *unmossy* side of the tree.
The ants nesting on the unmossy side detected the odor of the ant from the mossy side and promptly tore the intruder to shreds, bearing the head back to their nest as a trophy.
The moral of the story is that even someone who really *does* have the best of intentions will get you killed if he is ignorant of the situation on the ground.
And there isn't a politician in the world who will believe that the above tale has any relevance...
As the afternoon wore on and the air became cooler, he resumed his journey.
Several miles later, he discovered an ant frantically scurrying over his robe. He realized that the only place the ant could have crawled onto his robe was when he had rested beneath the banyan tree.
Now, ants are communal creatures and cannot survive on their own.
"Poor ant," thought the monk. "I will return you to your nest beneath the banyan tree. You will live out your days with your family and I will accrue merit for my good deed."
The monk then reversed his steps until he came to the very banyan tree beneath which he had rested. He saw the minute movements in the grass indicative of ant activity, and gently deposited his passenger near the nest.
Now, ants are not only communal creatures, they are also highly *territorial* creatures.
The monk had rested against the mossy side of the banyan tree.
He deposited the ant on the *unmossy* side of the tree.
The ants nesting on the unmossy side detected the odor of the ant from the mossy side and promptly tore the intruder to shreds, bearing the head back to their nest as a trophy.
The moral of the story is that even someone who really *does* have the best of intentions will get you killed if he is ignorant of the situation on the ground.
And there isn't a politician in the world who will believe that the above tale has any relevance...
... or something like that ...
It was the bush's fault.
0>;~}