Once upon a time there was a small town with a small town square. One one side of the square was a pizza parlor. On the other side of the square was a Taco Stand.

Every evening after work the townspeople would go into the town square for dinner. Those who loved pizza would go to the pizza parlor, while those who favored tacos would go to the taco stand. and they would eat their meals and talk about the day's events until it was time to go home to bed.

Then one day, a stranger appeared at the door of the pizza parlor. He looked in, then stepped into the middle of the floor and proclaimed, "My goodness; what a disgusting looking food! It looks like someone just spilled the pantry onto the floor, swept the mess onto some bread, and you idiots are paying to eat that!" The pizza lovers looked up in shock at the rudeness being displayed!

"You know what your problem is?" the man continued, "You are all racists! You think you are too good to eat at the Taco stand. You think Taco eaters are socially inferior and don't want to be seen with them, do you? Well, I am not a racist and I am a Taco lover, so I am going!" Then the stranger walked out.

Some of the Pizza lovers were suddenly worried. They did not want to be seen as racist. A few even suggested maybe they should quit the pizza parlor and eat at the Taco stand, until one of the town's elders spoke up. "Does it make any sense?" he said. Everyone scratched their heads and replied, "Does what make sense?"

"That a professed taco lover would bother to waste his time coming into an establishment whose food he professes to despise, to hurl insults at everyone? If he is merely a taco lover, why isn't he spending his time eating at the Taco Stand? Why is he here at all? Is his life so totally empty and devoid of all meaning that he can only find purpose screaming at people whose lives are not equally pontless and lacking substance?"

The pizza lovers were all looking at each other in puzzlement when the town elder spoke again. "Would you behave that rudely? Would you take time away from eating your pizza to go stand in the taco shop shouting insults at people?" The pizza lovers all shook their heads.

The town elder continued, "I know that man. He is the nephew of the owner of the Taco Stand, and he came in here to trick you into taking your business to the Taco Stand while pretending to be just an ordinary town citizen."

Enlightenment began to dawn on the faces of the pizza lovers!

The elder smiled, "When you see someone come into your social circle, screaming and ranting and raving against the things you love and support, you need to ask yourself why is that person willing to come into a hostile group, attacking that which is loved and supported. You have to ask yourself if it makes sense that an ordinary person with no ulterior motives would behave like that. Have they nothing better to do than intrude into other peoples' affairs and offend them? No, not without some hidden purpose. Not without something they personally will gain at your expense!"

The pizza lovers nodded agreement at the wisdom of their town elder and happily went back to eating their pizzas and talking about the day's events until it was time to go home to bed.

Across the town square, the owner of the Taco Stand waited in vain for the expected surge of former pizza lovers to enter his taco stand, and eventually decided that his nephew's time was better spent washing dishes and sweeping the floors.

Of course, we no longer congregate in the town square to discuss the days' events. We meet on Facebook, and Twitter, and MySpace, [and YubaFoothills] and dozens of other social networking sites that make the entire nation into a convivial town square for people to meet and talk about the day's events until it is time to go home to bed. But the same wisdom applies.

If you are meeting with a group of friends who share a common interest or a common perspective on those day's events, does it make any sense when strangers barge into your circle of friends, and hurl insults at you and what you believe? Not unless they have a secret agenda and a secret purpose. Not unless they, like the taco stand owner's nephew, are there to trick you into abandoning your own choices and freedoms and onto a path they personally will profit from.

Enjoy your dinner.

 

Copyright Whatreallyhappened Com

YES!!!! I would love to see this kind of common sense return to the people of the United States of America. FREE CHOICE, and FREE ENTERPRISE IS THE POINT!!!!!

Nice parable! Thanks for sharing.

There is some learning to be had; however, I challenge the central wisdom in that "ulterior motives," "secret agenda" and "hidden purpose" are always at the core of a differing or opposing opinion. Rather, I believe it's pretty clear what a dissenter is up to, and more importantly, they often represent a broader point-of-view that the insular group may be unaware of or unwilling to contemplate due to fear, negligence and other barriers.

Another aspect of the parable that requires further examination is the notion that the dissenter reaps rewards and "profits" from their efforts to change the minds of others. While I believe Madison Avenue, Wall Street and sometimes government subscribe to this technique, I rarely see this happening in the everyday world of everyday individuals exchanging in online communities. Yes, there have been the bullying cases and sexual predator episodes that result in tragic outcomes, but please tell me about examples closer to home, say on Yubafoothills.

We each are free to communicate what we believe to be true. It is hoped that truth is substantiated by all facts and all sides, not just those that are cherry-picked to support a biased cause. We are each then free to ponder and contemplate what we hear and come to our own opinion. No one is twisting our arm or tricking anyone. We ALREADY ARE are a society of free choice.
Finally, while I don't believe this was the intention of this parable being posted, but one COULD nterpret it to represent the story's own "stranger" in that this parable has "ulterior motives," "secret agenda" and "hidden purpose" when you consider the highly-biased source it's derived from.
Whatever the case, thanks again for posting.

Interesting how many levels this has.

 

Though "ulterior motives," "secret agenda" and "hidden purpose" have negative connotations, what if the “motive/purpose/agenda” is hidden from the person himself? And, as TallTrees says, maybe the motive, hidden or not, is a positive one?

 

Consider these one-liners, whether you agree with them or not:

 

All truth is personal.

(Ever wonder why most of us were not born with the ability to read other people’s minds?)

 

Truth is where you find it.

(From famous philosophers to memorable movie quotes, and even video games!)

 

Everyone is selling “something”.

(In exchange for "love", or money, or any number of positive or negative reasons.)

 

And as we continue to evolve our own personal “truth”, culled from the relevant nuggets of our life experience, what inherent tendency of human nature constantly urges us to “sell”, or communicate this to others? Why not just keep it to ourselves and be satisfied with that?

 

Makes you think, doesn’t it? And maybe that’s the point of the whole exercise. To awaken us to the reality that we are “free to choose” what to believe and how to act, and that the sum total of our beliefs and actions is our life.

 

“I don't want to live someone else's idea of how to live. Don't ask me to do that. I don't want to find out one day that I'm at the end of someone else's life.”

-- Robert Redford’s character in the movie Out of Africa

 

“You, my friend. It’s all up to you!”

-- RPG video game Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura

Sorry. I omitted the “famous philosopher” quote at the end of my post, which underscores my point:

 

“The unexamined life is not worth living.” -- Socrates

What great, thought-provoking quotes...Thanks for sharing!