Once in winter, a flock of wild turkeys made its circuitous way across farmlands and through forests. There were two dozen, young and old.
One turkey, Tom by name, somehow mangled his foot and could not keep up.
He called to the flock and asked them to slow down, but no one responded. When the group stopped to graze, Tom caught up, only to be shunned.
Several of the turkeys ganged up, surrounding Tom – wings outspread – and sought to peck him to death.
Tom escaped by flying up into the branches of a sheltering tree.
A kindly Farmer saw this and put out corn and water.
Whenever the flock returned – eating up all of Tom’s food – Tom would drop down from the tree and limp over to the flock, only to be viciously pecked at.
Thanks to the Farmer and time (and the sheltering tree), Tom’s foot got better; he limped less. Then, one day, he disappeared.
Moral for the workplace:
When a workmate is ostracized do you lend a helping hand – the Farmer – or look the other way?
The flock not only wants to spurn and shame Tom, they want him dead.
Now, in the “Woke, Dox, and Cancel” era some of us daily appear as mean-spirited as Tom’s turkeys. Those atavistic turkey neurons driving the elimination of a weak or different member of a flock – all for the greater good, of course – seem to be coursing freely in some human brains.
Where’s it lead?
Take a guess.
If your answer includes words like re-education, concentration camps, or gulags you’re getting warm. A few of my internet friends want people with differing (“misinformed”) opinions silenced and in a few cases, better dead than read*. To mangle a phrase, what turkeys these mortals be!
Whence the Golden Rule, Kindness, and Cooperation? Those qualities have helped humans evolve and prosper – they still can. Be the Farmer.
*The high-fiving by some of Charlie Kirk’s murder on September 10 this year suggests we’ve still got plenty of brutal turkey genes swimming around in our genetic pool.
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When you buy my book of fables (cover above) tied to leadership and the workplace, you’ll get a 25% discount until the end of 2025, in celebration of the blog’s move to a new platform: Link HERE to BUY
And, my book (cover above) on democratic workplaces and what leaders can do with limited resources and unlimited imagination, Leading from the Middle, is available at Amazon.</a>
N.B. For other essays on numerous other topics go to my Nucleus archive from 2010-early 2025.
© Copyright all text John Lubans 2017, 2024 & 2025