What Do You Want Most?
Photo by Sierra M.Dennis
The parable of the scorpion and the frog goes something like this:
A frog is sitting, quite peacefully I might add, on the riverbank of his neighborhood village. Along comes a scorpion. Instantly, the frog clinches up, aware of the danger of the scorpion. The scorpion sidles up to him and says, “Can you take me across the river please?” The frog is certain that this is a bad idea. “Why would I want to do that?” “Because I cannot swim and I need to get to the other side,” says the scorpion.
“I cannot do that,” said the frog. “If I do, you will sting me and I will die.”
Now here is the rub. The scorpion says, “Why would I do that? If I sting you then we will both die!” Thinking logically, the frog considers this and decides to go ahead and take the chance on the scorpion. He figures it might get dicey when they reach the other side. He’ll watch the scorpion very carefully and get away from him quickly when they get there. For now though, he considers this a good deed, and is assured that he will be okay.
They start across the river with the scorpion on the frogs back and sure enough, the scorpion stings the frog. As the poison starts to flow through the frogs body and his ability to swim diminishes, they both begin to sink. “Why?” says the frog. Read more…
