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a little less than the girl next door
in_transit
19 March 2007 @ 01:54 pm
看风使舵  
A strong wind was blowing, forcing the little reed to bend with it. Its neighbour, the oak tree, stood straight and firm.

"You are such a weakling; you bow to every gust of wind. Look at me! I bow to no one," boasted the oak as he laughed at the feeble reed.

The reed felt ashamed of his own weakness as he continued to bow to the wind.

Soon, there was a terrible storm accompanied by a violent gale. The oak stood firm while the reed readily humbled itself to it. The gale became so strong that it uprooted the oak.

Seeing what happened, the reed shouted to the oak, "It is wiser to bend with the wind than to fight against it."

The oak lay in the mud, never to stand up again.


you should probably be no stranger to the story of the oak and the reed. just outta curiosity, what are your thoughts about it? would you teach this to your (existent/non-existent/not-yet-existent) child(ren)? why and/or why not? do you have an alternative ending you would like to add to the story?
 
 
Mood: contemplative
Music: Jimmy Eat World - Hear You Me (May Angels Lead You In)
 
4 comments | Leave a comment
 
 
4 comments —
( 4 comments — Leave a comment )
Jin Siewjinsiew on March 19th, 2007 09:34 am (UTC)
wah liao..cheem...hehe...i'd probably tell the story and let them decide if they want to be the reed or the oak :) i am sure there are situations when you have to be one or another...
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a little less than the girl next doorin_transit on March 19th, 2007 04:29 pm (UTC)
hehe but who would wanna be the oak?? especially when the story ends with "the oak lay in the mud, never to stand up again". that's why io think it deserves a better or at least more neutral ending to it. but i do think you're right lah, it really depends on the context of the situation. :)
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the doob: grey georgefemdog on March 19th, 2007 12:27 pm (UTC)
ok this is quite interesting.

i think it depends on what exactly is the "wind" and your way of looking at it. bending with the wind can have both positive and negative connotations. for example, if the wind is like this big change going on that can have positive effects (say new technology), and you're like the oak, stubbornly resisting it, then you're gonna fall like it. but if the wind is an evil force, maybe yeah it's wise to bend with the wind (save your own skin) but then also cowardly to not put up a fight and just go with it, you know what i mean right.

so maybe i wouldn't teach it to my children when they're too young to understand the dual perspectives of the story, or it might confuse them. i can't think of an alternative ending yet... let you know when i come up with one.
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a little less than the girl next doorin_transit on March 19th, 2007 04:37 pm (UTC)
haha you're right, 'though i find it kinda hard to see the wind as anything very good, 'cos i just get the image of a big gust of wind... 吹过就走了. actually i'd read/heard this story a thousand times before as a kid, just that the dual possible perspectives never really occurred to me before today. so maybe if you tell kids the story, they also won't think too much about it haha. if they do ask about it, then you'll know you have a developing genius at home. heh.

if i ever have time to come back to this (after thesis, of course), i would really wanna give it an additional/alternative ending.
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