Once there was a boy named Toby who
liked to play outside, over by the hills. There were lots of
trees up in the hills, and all around them. Many rocks were also
there, as they often tumbled off the steep walls of some of the
rocky mounds.
Other children from the village played there, too. And some of
the meaner (as in smaller-minded) boys only took pleasure in
using rocks and sticks to hurt others. One day these meaner boys
decided to throw some rocks at Toby. And one boy also took a
stick and hit him with it.
Toby received several cuts and bruises from that dismal
encounter, but he was mostly ok. Then it happened again, a day
or so later. And then again. And again. After a while, the mean
(small-minded) boys seemed always to be waiting just for Toby.
Soon Toby became very angry. Oh, he had been a little angry from
the first day. But he was mostly confused and frightened at
first. Now he was deeply and perpetually angry. And as he became
angrier and angrier, he determined to be never again be overrun
by these meaner boys, the smaller-minded ones.
So Toby practiced throwing rocks farther and with greater
accuracy. He also practiced using sticks to hit and jab with.
And as he practiced, he made another determination. He decided
that to avoid being beaten again, he must always strike first,
and strike hard. If he waited until the others attacked him, he
might be overwhelmed.
Now almost all the children played with rocks and sticks in some
way, because they were so plentiful. But in his deeply burning
anger, Toby decided that anyone who picked up a rock or a stick
would use it as a weapon, and that they would use it against
him.
It isn't difficult to understand how Toby might feel and think
that way, considering what had happened to him. But the truth,
of course, was very, very different. And while Toby was
convinced — as he struck out at the other children — that he
acted only in self-defense, he actually became more like the
meaner (smaller-minded) boys than the other children, because he
often attacked innocent children with his rocks and sticks.
Toby could no longer tell the difference in how another child
might use the rocks or sticks. Whenever he saw someone with a
rock or stick, he attacked right away. He just assumed that they
were like the meaner, smaller-minded boys who had hurt him in
the past.
Needless to say, Toby won many battles — by virtue of the fact
that most of the children had no desire to throw rocks or
sticks, and no one liked being hit by them. But he did not win
any friends or playmates. Before long, whenever he went out to
play around the hills, he would always be alone.
And that suited Toby just fine.
He knew if he remained all alone,
no one would ever attack him again.
Jim |
