The Donkey, The Tiger, and The Lion
A donkey told the tiger, “This grass is blue.” The tiger scoffs and replies. “No, the grass is green!” Their discussion became very heated, both sides arguing and getting nowhere. The tiger finally suggested they submit their issue to the Lion, King of the Jungle, for arbitration.
As they approach the lion on his throne, the donkey started screaming “Your Highness! Isn’t it true the grass is blue?” The lion replied, “If you believe it’s true, then the grass is blue.” The donkey continued, “The tiger disagrees with me, contradicts me, annoys me…please punish him!”
So, the lion declared that the tiger would be punished with three days of silence. Well, naturally, the donkey was overjoyed and jumped around, taunting in triumph, “The grass is blue! The grass is blue!”
The tiger was upset and asked the Lion, “Why did you punish me? You know the grass is green.”
The lion replied, “You’ve known and seen that the grass is green. You know it. The punishment isn’t for whether the grass is blue or green, the punishment is because it’s degrading for a brave, intelligent creature like you to waste your time arguing with an ass, and on top of that, you came and bothered me with that question just to validate something you already knew to be true.”
The biggest waste of time is arguing with a fool and fanatic who doesn’t care about the truth of reality, but only the victory of his beliefs and illusions. Don’t waste time on discussions that make no sense. There are people who, for all the evidence presented, do not have the ability to understand. Others are blinded by ego, or hatred, or resentment, and the only thing they want is to be right, even if they aren’t. When ignorance screams, intelligence moves on.
