Leading from the Middle

Caption: Silkscreen print by Eleanor Grosch.

“A Crab once left the sea-shore and went and settled in a meadow some way inland, which looked very nice and green and seemed likely to be a good place to feed in. But a hungry Fox came along and spied the Crab and caught him. Just as he was going to be eaten up, the Crab said, ‘This is just what I deserve; for I had no business to leave my natural home by the sea and settle here as though I belonged to the land.’”

“Be content with your lot.”

This disputable moral – aren’t they all? - reminds me of the infamous “Lawsuit among the Adages.” No, not cabbages, adages. You know, “Look before you leap” Vs. “He who hesitates is lost.” The jury is still out.
In the workplace, one all too frequent refrain in opposition to change is the mantra: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” We’ll just keep on doing what we are doing, even if we are discontent. My injudicious response? “If it ain’t broke, break it!”
While that sounds a bit too close to the insufferable certainty of Thomas Alva Edison’s “Show me a thoroughly satisfied man — and I will show you a failure,” I think judicious application of the “break it” principle might help untie those workplace Gordian knots that impede and frustrate.
Less dramatic but perhaps more germane is the Latvian folk saying about pursuing one’s discontent for the best deal: “Why settle for a sandwich if you’re invited to dinner?”

*Source: AESOP'S FABLES A NEW TRANSLATION BY V. S. VERNON JONES WITH AN INTRODUCTION By G. K. CHESTERTON AND ILLUSTRATIONS BY ARTHUR RACKHAM (Publisher: London: W. Heinemann; New York: Doubleday, Page & Co., 1912). Available at Gutenberg.

Friday’s Leading from the Middle Library:
Susquehanna University, Blough-Weis Library
Selinsgrove, PA. USA

@Copyright John Lubans 2014

 

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