[June 13, 2020] My favorite story from childhood was The Tortoise and the Hare. As one of Aesop’s fables, it tells the chronicle of a race between the slow tortoise and the speedy hare. Some have written that his folktale means that ingenuity and trickery, rather than doggedness and persistence, are best used to overcome a stronger opponent. I disagree. The power of persistence cannot be ignored.
The fable is about how to better ourselves as people. My mother read it to me many times; well, before I could understand. As such, it was a lesson in morals. She would tell me that the tortoise was arrogant, over-confident, and foolish. Such traits, she would confide in me, were not sinful in themselves but were a path to poverty and ruin. No family would have you if you could not provide for their well-being.
The tortoise, on the other hand, through his zeal and perseverance prevailed over what my mom called laziness. I was raised as a Southern Baptist, and we took our faith seriously. Although I did not like getting dressed up in tight-fitting clothes and paraded through the church, I did like to see my friend Bonnie there. We smiled at each other when others did not think to look, or so we thought. But we talked about the Seven Deadly Sins as Christianity teachings. The tortoise represented what it took to avoid those sins.
To my mom, being a good person was not about being the most handsome, the smartest, fastest, bravest, or strongest man. But being good did require sacrifice. On a side note, I will point out that she helped explain to me the concept of sacrifice, an idea overlooked in our educational system today. Being good meant to give up something we valued for a better future in the family. That meant giving up drinking, lying, smoking, etc. Hanging out with our friends on the corner at 2 am may seem like fun but it gives us nothing in return but grief and helps us down the path of personal destruction.1
Many of my life’s lessons were learned from the stories my mom told. She was adamant that I understood that by possessing good character, I would independently make good decisions even when conditions were unclear or contradictory. One lesson was not to make fun of anyone else; you could never know their life or circumstance. Another was that slow but steady always wins the race. I never forgot them.
My dad was less involved in my growing up due to his job as an officer on the railroad. He did, however, teach me to be a winner. To be a winner, you must never quit. But more importantly, to win meant that we have to decide to win.
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The longest journey begins with one step, and then another and another. This is how most of us make major progress in our lives and those of our families and communities. One small step can mean a lot. At least we have started to move forward.
Growing up, my parents were great about reading me stories. There were many, of course, but they took the time to talk with me (and my sister) about what they meant. We talked. That is what is important because it showed me how to listen and think. Today’s young kids know how to talk but not listen or think.
Well said, Harry. But I disagree. Most kids do know how to think but we are seeing those on tv that don’t because the media is so biased that they will only show the bad kids. Oh, ha ha. I meant young adults!
If your riot, loot, and destroy, you are in with the news media. They will love you and show you everywhere and treat you with respect. This is why so many hate the news.
The media has been called ‘fake’ news for a reason. But, darn it, …. they are persistent.
Excellent thinking Gen. Satterfield. The POWER OF PERSISTENCE is greater than most folks realize.
You were fortunate to have such a good mom who took the time to teach you the basics of being a person of character. Moms and, yes, dads seem to not have the time anymore to do those basic responsibilities so they outsource them to others like teachers, coaches, and religious leaders. The parent is the main source of goodness, not others. And NO, it doesn’t “take a village” to raise a child, it takes a family. Such is why Hillary Clinton lost the election to Trump. She was, is, and never will be a good person.
Interesting interpretation on Clinton’s loss to Trump.
Lies have a way of creeping back on you. This is the lesson that the past election should be interpreted but not one of those from this story.
Yep, let’s get back to the lessons from the story before us today. The power of persistence is invaluable to those who want to lead. You have to ‘hang in there.’ Much like Winston Churchill said in his famous WW2 speech. “We will fight them on the beaches ….”
Another lesson has to do with good judgment. The ‘hare’ did not have good judgment because he thought he could win just by entering the contest. The ‘tortoise’ represents the old ways of thinking (symbolically) and thus is should be the subject of derision. Just my thinking on the possible lessons.
When I was a kid in school, teachers were always asking what a certain story represented. I could never figure them out. Now I have a better idea. Too bad I couldn’t read this blog then. Thumbs up for this website.
Great job Gen. Satterfield on another well put-together article for us. In the future, I would like to see more on Aesop’s fables and your interpretations.
Lesson for everyone —
“Confidence is good, but Over Confidence is Bad”
“Don’t make fun of Anyone”
“Slow but steady always wins the Race”
“You Will Win If you have decided to win”
That pretty much sums it up. I was educated by a gym teacher on this fable and so was the rest of my class. We learned hard lessons about losing our gym meets and how we should view those losses. The story help put it in place. After he introduced those lessons, we were better prepared.
Many lessons if only we would listen and adopt them. Most will not becuase … since we are modern, we know better. Ha Ha Ha. The furthest from the truth we are the worse off we are.
Ahhh, again we have reference to the “moral superiority” of our new generation. Everything that is old, is corrupt and worthless – so they say. Everything new will take us to the utopia that Marx always talked about.
Old lessons from the past ‘don’t matter’ because they are old. Nothing like a strawman argument. I find a lot of folks think this way. And, yes, many old ideas are corrupt and should be discarded. But not all of them are corrupt or worthless. Lessons from millennia ago, those that have risen to the top as meta stories are powerful and will never be worthless.
Good one! My favorite bed time story was the Rabbit and the Turtle. Thanks for bringing back memories from when I was young and a very very long time ago.