Parable of the Greatest Thing
Is it Someday Far Off, Now or Not?
By Robert Winkler Burke, Copyright 1/24/07
www.inthatdayteachings.com
Every year a circus called The Greatest Thing visited two towns located on opposite banks of a large river. The towns were called Someday and Now.
When the circus set up its tents on the outskirts of Someday, it made all things ready for its performing lions, dancing elephants, high wire acrobats, amazing magicians and funny clowns.
But a strange thing always happened to the circus at Someday. The people of that town, who considered themselves superior to the people across river, had peculiar notions about circus entertainment. The people of Someday would buy circus tickets, the circus programs (which they liked to memorize,) souvenirs and even peanuts, popcorn and candy. But whenever the circus began, the people of Someday went straight home!
The reverse happened at the town of Now. When the circus crossed the river and set up tents there, each circus member was full of delight. Because the circus, having made good money from Someday, offered everything free to the people of Now. So every able person from Now attended The Greatest Thing.
And here is what Now did when it attended The Greatest Thing: A dozen Now men would be invited into the ring to wrestle with the clowns, which made everyone roar in laughter. The town’s choir would sing songs to the circus band, sometimes making the band members cry. Children brought their kittens to receive lessons from the lion tamer. And whoever happened to be mayor of Now always let himself (or herself, as it happened on occasion,) be ridiculed by the circus clowns.
Plus the circus elephants made a triumphant arch with their trunks for the high school prom king and queen to make a celebrated entrance. And a pachyderm would on occasion spray the couple with water, which made everyone laugh.
Thus it happened that it was impossible to tell who had more jolly good fun – the people of Now or the circus! Everyone seemed to have such care one for another.
Eventually the circus employees decided it was too small a thing for them to give free tickets to the delightful people of Now. They decided to contribute to a fund to support Now veterans and their families in need. And the people of Now would not be out done in this kind of thing. So they set up two retirement funds for the circus, one for humans and another for animals.
But the town across the river did not understand the people of Now. Someday’s people were jealous of all the fun and commotion they could hear across the river that separated them. They thought, “Don’t those repulsive Nowians know how to properly enjoy a circus?” So they got a court injunction to stop the circus from appearing in Now, on the basis of unfair trade practices.
In frustration, the circus never came back to either town.
But the spirit of The Greatest Thing had so infused itself in the good people of Now, that they decided to do something. With permission from the circus, they opened an amusement park named The Second Greatest Thing and invited people throughout the state to attend. It became a huge success.
Eventually Now’s amusement park was so popular, it became a global destination resort with attendance of over 10 million people per year. Most of the people in Now became rich.
And the people of Someday? Most of them remained quite poor. So they decided to do something. With permission from the circus, they opened a museum, a publishing house, a college, a television station and internet websites – all dedicated to heralding The Greatest Thing… they completely misunderstood.
It turns out this situation was of particular interest to a certain town down the river from Someday, whose name was Not. And the people of Not thought they completely understood what the people of Someday misunderstood about the circus called The Greatest Thing.
So the people of Not decided to do something. With permission from the circus, they opened a museum, a publishing house, a college, a television station and internet websites – all dedicated to heralding the reasons why the people of Someday completely misunderstood The Greatest Thing.
But the Nots were so consumed with the certainty of their reasons why the Somedays were wrong, their zeal left them no time to ever actually attend the circus called The Greatest Thing or Now’s amusement park called The Second Greatest Thing. In fact, the people of Not totally ignored anything that not involved with proving the people of Someday wrong.
Interestingly, the when children of Someday grew up, they usually moved either to Not or Now. And when the children of Not grew up, they usually moved either to Someday or Now. But when the children of Now grew up, they almost always stayed somewhere in Now, close to their families. Because the Nows happily believed that living by The Second Greatest Thing was as close as they could come to The Greatest Thing.
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