3rd May 2024
I am a big fan of fables, be it the Ant and the Grasshopper, the Boy Who Cried Wolf, or the Tortoise and the Hare, each are great because they are concise, entertaining, and most importantly, forever relevant.
That said, a fable crossed my desk in recent weeks that I found especially relevant to the world we are currently living in — “Chicken Little”.
‘Chicken Little’ is walking in the woods when she is struck by an acorn falling from one of the trees. Convinced this is a sign the sky is falling, Chicken Little rushes from the woods to go and warn the king.
On her way to see the king, she runs into several friends, who are also birds and go by names like Henny Penny, Goosey Loosey, Ducky Lucky, Turkey Lurkey, and so on. As she meets each along her way, Chicken Little warns them that sky is falling and that she has first-hand evidence of this.
As a result, these birds join Chicken Little as she makes her way to the king.
Soon enough, there is a large group of them convinced that the sky is falling on them.
On their way, they come across Foxy Loxy (a fox, of course), who asks them why they are in such a hurry. Chicken Little explains that the sky is falling and that they are on their way to tell the king.
Foxy Loxy offers to take them to the castle where they will find the king, and the birds agree to accompany him.
However, the cunning fox leads them not to the castle, but to his den, and the birds are never seen alive again.
The lesson here is simple, Fear is not something that is forced upon us. Rather, it is something we force upon ourselves because fear is a reaction we have when we are confronted by something, typically a threat.
This raises a question — is fearing something a problem?
In short, no. Fear itself is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, a reasonable amount of fear is actually a good thing because it is what makes us more aware of our surroundings and cautious when warranted.
However, an irrational amount of fear is a problem because it makes us susceptible to the “Foxy Loxy’s” of the world – Those who aim to leverage fear for personal gains,
Those who sell advice, products, and services that feed into the fear,
Those who want it to magnify it at every turn.
The media is the obvious culprit, but there are countless others.
The reason this is such an important issue is because while Chicken Little treated a single acorn as a sign that the sky was falling, most people today, seem to be treating each and every “acorn” (i.e. negative headlines) as a sure-fire indication that the world is coming to an end and the economy and/or stock markets are bound to crash.
It is Election season in the world, more than 50% of the world population is going to vote this year.
Be wary of the acorns being turned into “The sky is falling” theories. Don’t let fear dominate your choice.
The Sky is definitely not falling anytime soon despite all the claims that you may hear, learn from the fables & stay blessed forever.