It's Not Our Problem ...

POINT TO PONDER: A stitch in time saves nine.

A relevant story for current Political, Environmental and Social issues going on in the world.

STORYLINE (and a possible answer...)

Not Our Problem: A Tale from Burma and Thailand, retold by Margaret Read MacDonald

The King sat with his Adviser eating honey on puffed rice.
As they ate they leaned from the palace window and watched the street below.
They talked of this and that.
The King, not paying attention to what he was doing,
Let a drop of honey fall onto the windowsill.
"Oh sire, let me wipe that up," offered the Adviser.
"Never mind," said the King.
"It is not our problem.
The servants will clean it later."

As the two continued to dine on their honey and puffed rice,
The drop of honey slowly began to drip down the windowsill.
At last it fell with a plop onto the street below.
Soon a fly had landed on the drop of honey and begun
His own meal.
Immediately a gecko sprang from under the palace and with a flip
Of its long tongue swallowed the fly.
But a cat had seen the gecko and pounced.
Then a dog sprang forward and attacked the cat!

"Sire, there seems to be a cat and dog fight in the street.
Should we call someone to stop it?"
"Never mind," said the King.
"It's not our problem."
So the two continued to munch their honey and puffed rice.

Meanwhile the cat's owner had arrived and was beating the dog.
The dog's owner ran up and began to beat the cat.
Soon the two were beating each other.
"Sire, there are two persons fighting in the street now.
Shouldn't we send someone to break this up?"
The King lazily looked from the window.
"Never mind.
It's not our problem."

The friends of the cat's owner gathered and began to cheer him on.
The friends of the dog's owner began to cheer her on as well.
Soon both groups entered the fight and attacked each other.

"Sire, a number of people are fighting in the street now.
Perhaps we should call someone to break this up."
The King was too lazy even to look.
You can guess what he said.
"Never mind. It's not our problem."

Now soldiers arrived on the scene.
At first they tried to break up the fighting.
But when they heard the cause of the fight
Some sided with the cat's owner.
Others sided with the dog's owner.
Soon the soldiers too had joined the fight.

With the soldiers involved, the fight erupted into civil war.
Houses were burned down.
People were harmed.
And the palace itself was set afire and burned to the ground.
The King and his Adviser stood surveying the ruins.
"Perhaps," said the King,
"I was wrong?
Perhaps the drop of honey WAS our problem."

From Peace Tales: World Folktales to Talk About. c 1992 Margaret Read MacDonald (North Haven CT: Linnet Books).

In light of current Environmental, Political and Social issues, this FR from July 16,2010 is republihsed.

 

Comments

[Comments in the original Publication: July 16,2010]

Very true. Most of the major issues can be traced back to something small which was not rectified and things escalated. Thats why in engineering if we use the 5 Why's we are most likely to get to a root cause of a problem and then correct it to for the long term.

Posted by: Sam | July 17, 2010 at 11:23 AM

RV Rajan
I guess this is the Theory of Chaos...something small which we think may have no impact at all will hunt us down. At least this could have been controlled but not the butterfly flaps that would have altered the tornados.

Posted by: RV Rajan | July 18, 2010 at 05:28 PM

Mike Goodner
The flip side of this is assumed accountability - even if you didn't have a hand in the initial problem, if you see it, you fix it. Or at least take the problem to someone who is equipped to fix it.

Posted by: Mike Goodner | July 19, 2010 at 10:11 AM

micro CEO
“The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.”
-Eli Wiesel
Posted by: micro CEO | July 19, 2010 at 03:53 PM

G3B
Too Good an article. "It's not our problem" is mostly the common statement that remains the cause of all the problems. Each time someone says this statement, they forget to realize, what has happened to others or outside, will not take too long to impact them. If this can be fixed, most of the societal problems can be solved.

Posted by: G3B | July 23, 2010 at 06:43 A

[Carol]

Today the (atrocity toward) Jews, tomorrow the Catholics, etc. Yeah, never turn a blind eye to Injustice against anyone or group. Cuz you or your group will be next. That has been the conventional wisdom.

[Milan]

True, but most people are like the king…

[EastCoast]

This seems, at least to me, a variation on “For the Want of a Nail” which was written back in the 14th century.

For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the message was lost.
For want of a message the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

[Shardamandir Friend]

Very true
A little discussion go to fight & than a big issues
So it is better to
stop from the starting
That is right solution

[Quality Professional]

Thanks for the sharing. Totally agree. Also, I am seeing people’s mindset in quality and issue RC/CA study and prevention is really no longer the same as what we have in the past, the real root cause and fix is less important, people are eager to defend for themselves and more cost,revenue and business focused.

[MS]

Beautiful photos. Loved the kites and Bayshore. :)

[HEDDA ROBINSON]

I agree with the others that if a little thing starts--better fix it NOW.