An old tale retold: The reverend father of the bride invited his village to the wedding banquet. On the wedding day, everyone, including the new teacher, left work to attend. Not wishing to be thought pretentious, the teacher wore his teaching clothes to the banquet where he was ignored. Feeling snubbed, he returned home, put on his finest suit, best shirt and nicest tie, and returned to the banquet. As soon as he entered, he was greeted by everybody, fawned over by the host, kissed by the bride, and was invited to join the head table. When the soup was served, instead of using his soup spoon, he dunked the sleeve of his silk suit into his soup bowl, and said, Eat, my coat, eat. Every one at the head table was stunned, leaving it to the brides father to break the sudden silence to ask the teacher about his bizarre behavior. When I arrived earlier wearing my everyday clothes, the teacher explained, nobody offered me a drink or an appetizer. I was ignored. But when I returned wearing this fine suit and tie, I was immediately offered the best of everything, so I can only assume that it was my fine coat and not myself, who was invited to your feast. Lets Pray: Dear God, when we are dismayed or bedazzled by clothing and make shallow judgments about the worth of wearer, show us that such distinctions are illusions. Amen. Heres a Thought: We create such distinctions in our own minds and culture, and then we believe them to be true. Sources: Eat, My Coat, Eat, Tales of Nasreddin Hodja, retold by D. L. Ashliman pitt.edu/~dash/folktexts.html#a Buddha: In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be true. brainyquote/quotes/authors/b/buddha.html
Posted on: Wed, 23 Jul 2014 09:37:22 +0000
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