When I die and they take out my heart, they will be seized by wonder at all of your words tattooed upon it.
lately i've been thinking about this fable that i read in elementary school.
A scorpion and a frog meet on the bank of a river. As the scorpion cannot swim, he asks the frog to carry him across on his back. The frog replies “I will not, for how will I know that you won’t sting me?”
“If I sting you, then I will die too- for you see, I cannot swim” the scorpion assured.
The frog sees the logic in this and agrees to carry the scorpion across the river. Just as they are about the reach the opposite shore, the scorpion stings the frog. As the frog feels the onset of paralysis, he looks up at the scorpion in shock and asks “Why have you done this? Now we will both drown!”
The scorpion replies, “I can’t help it....I’m a scorpion, it’s my nature.”
And they both sank into the muddy swirls of the river.
ten years ago when i first read the fable, it didn't really mean anything to me. now, i see it as a secret of the universe, this idea of nature. no matter who you are or what you evolve into, you cannot control your nature- even if it leads you to self-destruction.
we are what we are what we are what we are
A scorpion and a frog meet on the bank of a river. As the scorpion cannot swim, he asks the frog to carry him across on his back. The frog replies “I will not, for how will I know that you won’t sting me?”
“If I sting you, then I will die too- for you see, I cannot swim” the scorpion assured.
The frog sees the logic in this and agrees to carry the scorpion across the river. Just as they are about the reach the opposite shore, the scorpion stings the frog. As the frog feels the onset of paralysis, he looks up at the scorpion in shock and asks “Why have you done this? Now we will both drown!”
The scorpion replies, “I can’t help it....I’m a scorpion, it’s my nature.”
And they both sank into the muddy swirls of the river.
ten years ago when i first read the fable, it didn't really mean anything to me. now, i see it as a secret of the universe, this idea of nature. no matter who you are or what you evolve into, you cannot control your nature- even if it leads you to self-destruction.
we are what we are what we are what we are
posted by diadima at 5:53 PM
9 Comments:
we sure are, even our ability for reason that sets us apart from the 'lesser' animals doesn't help us change our nature.
and love Omissions of the Omen, awesome, awesome, deep track.
So we should cut the stingers off of every scorpion we encounter? I'm down with that.
that reminds me of a story told by an old navajo man in the movie Natural Born Killers. It's pretty much the same thing except it was a snake. I think the moral of the story is dont expect anything different from people you already know are shady.
good lord, i hadn't heard this fable before but it's eerie in its correctivity.
that's a word.
maybe in Lozstralia.
aaron: ommisions of the omen is one of my favourites. i always liked it when it was just him and a guitar.
ubermilf: interesting idea. but then we'd have to cut the voicebox out of every dog who barked, and cut the wings off every bird that flew, etc etc and so on.
cheyenne: i've never seen natural born killers, but that sounds like the same bottom line.
anthony: i'm not a strong swimmer either. maybe we should both just stay out of the water, hmm?
loz: you and your words. it's like you speak your own language...loztralian, perhaps?
nicky: i'm so unoriginal
I read that fable somewhere before, only I can't place it at the moment. But it is quite true.
No matter how hard one tries to change themselves, their true self will always be there. Lord knows I've tried.
i think Loztralian is the perfect name for it!
of course the actual name of australian english is Strine. we call it that because if you met say, 100 aussies, about 99 of them would tell you they were Astrayn - you know, they come from Astraya.
Damn. I'd completely forgotten about this one.
It's a very hard one for me to see today.
I guess if it's the truth, I'm in a space in which I can't think about my tendency to believe it. At least not at the moment.
Sigh.
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