November 28, 2008

•  

   This one is for the birds

  

   

  THE PARROT
  
  A young man named John received a parrot as a gift.

  The parrot had a bad attitude and an even worse vocabulary.

  Every word out of the bird’s mouth was rude, obnoxious and laced with profanity.

  John tried and tried to change the bird’s attitude by consistently saying only polite words,

   playing soft music and anything else he could think of to “clean up” the bird’s vocabulary.
  
  Finally, John was fed up and he yelled at the parrot. The parrot
  yelled back. John shook the parrot and the parrot got angrier and even
  ruder. John, in desperation, threw up his hands, grabbed the bird and
  put him in the freezer.

  For a few minutes the parrot squawked and kicked and screamed.

  Then suddenly there was total quiet. Not a peep was heard for over a minute.
  
  Fearing that he’d hurt the parrot, John quickly open the door to the
  freezer. The parrot calmly stepped out onto John’s outstretched arms
  and said

  “I believe I may have offended you with my rude language and
  actions. I’m sincerely remorseful for my inappropriate transgressions

  and I fully intend to do everything I can to correct my rude and unforgivable
  behavior.”

  John was stunned at the change in the bird’s attitude.

  As he was about to ask the parrot what had made such a dramatic change in his behavior, the bird continued,

  “May I ask what the turkey did?”

   

  

   

  “Wisdom tends to grow in proportion to one’s awareness of one’s ignorance,” he claimed.
  
  When asked for an explanation, he said,

   ”When you come to see you are not as wise today

   as you thought you were yesterday,

  you are wiser today.”
  
  Anthony de Mello, SJ

  
  

  • 7:08 pm
  • 6 Comments