A Bear, a Fox, and an Opossum were attacked by an inundation.
“Death loves a coward,” said the Bear, and went forward to fight the flood.
“What a fool!” said the Fox. “I know a trick worth two of that.” And he slipped into a hollow stump.
“There are malevolent forces,” said the Opossum, “which the wise will neither confront nor avoid.
The thing is to know the nature of your antagonist.”
So saying the Opossum lay down and pretended to be dead.
____________
Each of our heroes responds differently in the face of impending doom.
I recall committee discussions that resulted in solutions akin to the bear’s Waterloo (competing), the fox’s high-end hiding (avoiding) and the possum’s faking (accommodating).
None of these actions – when applied to my workplace – were what we needed.
Why was that?
Often, protecting one’s turf or not understanding the urgency of the moment results in a wrong-headed, knee-jerk response: the bear does what he does best, the sly fox savvies, and the possum plays dead.
All three drown.
Why did my cohorts not collaborate (three heads are better than one) and survive and thrive in the solution?
In the information providing business – in which I had a leadership role – we were about to be inundated by the likes of Google and Yahoo.
Who won?
I’ll let you guess.
*Source: FANTASTIC FABLES By AMBROSE BIERCE New York and London: G. P. PUTNAM & SONS, The Knickerbocker Press, 1899.
N.B. For other essays on numerous other topics go to my Nucleus archive from 2010-early 2025.
© Copyright all text John Lubans 2025