The Farmer

Story

One spring, a farmer went out and plowed his fields and planted his corn. The rain came; he fertilized and irrigated. The corn sprouted and grew. It was doing well, growing and flourishing. A few weeks later, though, the farmer began to become impatient. He wanted his corn now. RIGHT now.

Impatient beyond belief, he plowed the cornfield under and the next day, planted wheat. Again, the rains were sufficient and the farmer cared for his new crop. It was doing very well but again, impatience set in. A few days later, the farmer plowed under his newly-sprouted wheat and planted potatoes.

Over the rest of the summer and fall, the farmer repeatedly planted and plowed and planted and plowed until the end of the summer when his last crop, his tomato plants, died in the cold of the frost. The farmer had nothing. In spite of his hard work, in spite of doing nearly everything right and despite the perfect weather of the perfect summer, he had nothing to show for it all.

It was a long, cold, and very hungry winter.

Moral

If you have everything under the sun going perfectly for you, you still need patience.

Discussion

How many times have you worked for a company which had good policies but kept changing them over and over again? How many times have you seen your friends or family change jobs over and over and over again? Each time, they have to start over and begin with nothing again.

My father was that kind of man. The rate of changes for his jobs became so numerous that by the end, he was changing jobs nearly every month or even faster. He attempted to start several businesses in succession but never worked any of them to fruition. He signed up for several MLM's only to abandon them shortly afterward. Over time, he destroyed his ability to accumulate money, to acquire knowledge, to gain experience, to retire well.

Instead, he died penniless and without self-respect.

But he was a brilliant man, intellectually. Competent and capable in many areas. There is some evidence which suggests that he may have had ADHD and possibly, that interfered with his ability to remain pointed toward a goal's achievement.

Regardless of why, the object lesson is that it takes time to accomplish things. If something is planned and set into motion it will not happen overnight. But it will happen if it is given the proper time along with all other good things.

I realize there are other variables in real life but the thought experiment succeeds in a fashion which illustrates the need for focus on an end result.

After the planning is done, the growth begins.

Any comments?

--Wag--