Wisdom v. Compassion, Or, the Elizabeth Smart Prediction - No. 60. The Woodsman and Serpent - The Essential Aesop™ - Back to Basics Abridgment Series
Gregg Zegarelli Esq.
Managing Shareholder at Technology & Entrepreneurial Ventures Law Group, PC
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." Leonardo da Vinci. (Adopted by Steve Jobs.)
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One winter day a Woodsman was tramping home when he saw a Serpent that was almost dead.
Feeling sorry for the Serpent, he carried it into his home and set it on the hearth in front of the fire.
His Children watched the Serpent slowly come to life again. Then, one of them stooped down to stroke it, but the Serpent raised its head and venomous fangs to strike.
By luck of circumstance, the Woodsman was there to see it, and so he seized his ax, and with one stroke cut the Serpent in two.
Moral of the Story: There is no gratitude from the wicked. Things generally act in accordance with their nature. Hope tends to contradict prudence.
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Introduction - The Essential Aesop - Epilogue
Related Articles: Hiring on Hope - The Business of Aesop™ No. 90 - The Cat-Maiden; The Essential Aesop: Epilogue; The Folly of Love - No. 85. The Lion in Love; Thinking It Through, Or, Seeing the Thing from the Seed - No. 101. The Porcupine and the Cave - The Essential Aesop™; Trust by Tendency and Prediction - No. 36. The Wolf and the Sheep - The Essential Aesop™; Trust, by Tendency and Prediction. No. 36. The Wolf and the Sheep - The Essential Aesop™ - Back to Basics Abridgment Series
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Why We Loved It: Respectfully and compassionately, this 2000 year old fable might be known as the Elizabeth Smart prediction fable.
Fourteen year old Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped from her home, by a homeless man who was compassionately provided a job to work on the roof of her home by her parents.
This is a very important fable and isolates an important distinction: wisdom versus compassion, or perhaps thinking versus feeling. A person who desires to do something "good" might simply be making a foolish decision to do so. What is compassionate, and what is wise, are not necessarily the same thing. [1]
For example, seeing ducks on a highway, someone might not want to hurt the ducks, being compassionate, only to stop on the highway, and thereby causing a fatal crash. True story. History teaches that compassionate "decisions" are not necessarily thoughtful or wise. Indeed, the emotional acts today do not withstand the clear rational scrutiny of tomorrow.
Aesop teaches us to keep our heads about us. What we want to do, and what we prefer to do, must concede to what we must do by thoughtful and wise assessment.
But, the implicit corollary is even more important, and even more insidious: the role of hope. Hope wreaks havoc on wisdom by infecting wise decisions through its accomplice, compassion. [2] The Woodsman was compassionate and hoped the Serpent would be tame with the introduction into his home, and he got lucky to prevent disaster. Elizabeth Smart's parents were compassionate and hoped the raping kidnapper would be tame with the introduction to their home, and they got unlucky to prevent disaster. [2] Wisdom understands the metes and bounds of luck, and what degree of compassion and hope sit in the space of a good decision. Anyone can get lucky or unlucky, but wisdom should decide whether and when to embrace it. [3] Thusly, the adage, "Actus stultos fortuna egent, et fortunam consilii mali esse scimus." ("Foolish acts need luck, and luck is a bad strategy.")
On a lighter side, but no less important, this lesson brings to mind one of this writer's all-time favorite fables of Aesop: The Folly of Love - No. 85. The Lion in Love. The Lion loved, and the Lion hoped, and the Lion trusted. Alas, in the end, no teeth, no claws, and no maiden. Silly foolish Lion. [4, 5, 6]
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"Many books teach how to be a good person. Aesop teaches how to be a wise person. There is a difference." ~grz, The Essential Aesop: Epilogue
*Ed Note: Whether or not you agree with Donald Trump's immigration platform, or the inductive causation he suggests, or the application of the poem to the context, it is worth noting for academic reasons that his Snake Poem is a derivation of this Aesop's Fable.
* Gregg Zegarelli, Esq., earned both his Bachelor of Arts Degree and his Juris Doctorate from Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His dual major areas of study were History from the College of Liberal Arts and Accounting from the Business School (qualified to sit for the CPA examination), with dual minors in Philosophy and Political Science. He has enjoyed Adjunct Professorships in the Duquesne University Graduate Leadership Master Degree Program (The Leader as Entrepreneur; Developing Leadership Character Through Adversity) and the University of Pittsburgh Law School (The Anatomy of a Deal). He is admitted to various courts throughout the United States of America.
Gregg Zegarelli, Esq., is Managing Shareholder of Technology & Entrepreneurial Ventures Law Group, PC. Gregg is nationally rated as "superb" and has more than 35 years of experience working with entrepreneurs and companies of all sizes, including startups, INC. 500, and publicly traded companies. He is author of One: The Unified Gospel of Jesus, and The Business of Aesop™ article series, and co-author with his father, Arnold Zegarelli, of The Essential Aesop: For Business, Managers, Writers and Professional Speakers. Gregg is a frequent lecturer, speaker and faculty for a variety of educational and other institutions.
© 2013 Arnold Zegarelli and Gregg Zegarelli, Esq. Gregg can be contacted through LinkedIn. Arnold Zegarelli can be contacted through Facebook.
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