Aesop’s Fables Month: The Bald Man and The Fly 👴🏻🪰💥🤕
After diving into some heavier waters yesterday regarding spiritual leadership, hired hands, and the tender protection of our Good Shepherd, I thought our souls could use a little lightness today.
Laughter is like medicine, but sometimes the funniest moments in life also hold the sharpest mirrors.
Have you ever watched someone absolutely lose their mind over a minor nuisance? Or maybe—if you’re feeling brave enough to admit it—you’ve been that person yourself? You stub your toe, or someone cuts you off in traffic, or you get an error on a cellphone app or game (or a computer glitch) that ruins an otherwise peaceful afternoon, and before you know it, you’ve launched a full-scale war over a paper-thin annoyance. If you’re like me, you might have kicked the item on which you stubbed your toe only to realize (quite painfully) that inanimate objects do not care nearly as much about being kicked and your newly injured other toe does. 🦶🙃
Aesop understood this peculiarly human brand of foolishness and turned it into one of his most delightfully funny, yet convicting, fables.
The Classic Fable Retold: The Bald Man and the Fly (Perry 525)
A gentleman of distinguished bearing was enjoying a quiet afternoon in his garden courtyard. His scalp, long stripped of hair by time, shone smoothly in the afternoon sun.
Without warning, a tiny, insolent fly landed squarely on the very crown of his bare head and delivered a sharp, stinging bite.
Incensed by the audacity of the pest, the gentleman’s face flushed red. Forgetting all dignity, he clenched his jaw, raised his heavy right hand high into the air, and swung down with all his might to crush the offender into oblivion.
WHACK!
The agile little fly, sensing the wind of the blow, darted away quickly and flew freely into the air. The man’s open palm landed with a resounding, thunderous slap squarely against his own bald skull.
Stars danced before his eyes. As he winced, rubbing his smarting, reddened crown, the fly hovered lazily just above his nose, buzzing with impudent delight: “You sought to avenge a tiny nip with instant execution! Now tell me, sir: what punishment will you pass upon yourself, seeing that you’ve dealt your own head a far more painful blow than I could ever dream of giving you?”
Nursing his throbbing head, the gentleman muttered through gritted teeth: “I can easily forgive myself, for I bore no malice against my own skin. But as for you, vile pest, I’d gladly strike myself twice as hard if it meant swatting you out of existence!”
Straining at Gnats and Slapping Our Own Heads
How often do we do the exact same thing when offense buzzes into our lives? And moreso if that offense comes in with arrogance.
We receive a snide comment on social media, get an insensitive remark from an acquaintance, or let an everyday inconvenience land on us like a pesky fly. The sting is real, but it’s minuscule. But instead of waving it off or letting it go, our pride flares up. We wind up our emotions, take a furious swing to get even, and end up delivering a stinging blow to our own peace, our health, and our relationships.
We nurse grudges that give us ulcers, not the person who offended us. We stew in resentment, replaying the argument in the shower, effectively slapping our own bald heads over and over while the “fly” buzzes away completely oblivious.
There’s a great old quote (possibly by Saint Augustine) that says, “Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.” Sometimes, the quote says unforgiveness, but it could just as well say offense. And I found a good article about that quote at a site called “The Bible Teaching Lady.”
Truthfully, though, Scripture gives us many wiser, calmer paths to walk to deal with life’s little gnats. Here are a couple of them:
“A person’s insight gives him patience, and his glory is to overlook an offense.”
— Proverbs 19:11 (B.S.B.)
“He who is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who is quick-tempered exalts folly.”
— Proverbs 14:29 (B.S.B.)
Overlooking an offense isn’t weakness; it’s wisdom. It’s the grace to realize that taking a wild swing at every petty irritant only leaves us with a headache.
Simon’s Cat: The Art of the Overreaction
If you want a visual reminder of what it looks like when we wage an all-out war over a tiny insect, look no further than Simon’s Cat in the hilarious short Fly Guy. It’s one of his oldest comic videos, and totally my favorite. He redid it in color, but I think the original is best. Watch how quickly a peaceful afternoon nap turns into total household destruction:
If you want to see it in color (or subscribe), visit YouTube here.
Today, if a petty annoyance lands on the top of your head, or anywhere along your path, take a breath. Don’t ball up your hand. Don’t forfeit your joy over a momentary sting. Shake your head, smile at the absurdity of it, and let the Prince of Peace keep your heart calm!
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It’s Freedom of Speech Week!
Speech Balloon by Flickr User Marc Wathieu, CC License = Attribution, Noncommercial
Click image to open a new tab/window to view the original image and to access the user’s full photo stream at Flickr.
Guess what? I know, I already gave the answer in the title. October 20-26th, 2014, is Freedom of Speech Week. Apparently, this is something to celebrate every 3rd week in October. And yet, the news is telling me that there’s a mayor in Texas who is demanding copies of speeches any pastors make to verify that what they say won’t offend anyone. So, maybe the freedom of speech thing only works if what you speak is not offensive? Well, obviously that can’t be the criteria since offensiveness is subjective and based on the thoughts and feelings of whomever listens.
See, the idea of never offending anyone is pure fantasy, as is the idea of never being offended. I want to be allowed the freedom to speak from my heart, so I know that will require my allowing others to speak from their hearts. But I also realize how often that freedom will be abused as long as we live in a world governed by men and not by God. What I share as life and truth from God’s word can be received as offensive criticism by those with no intention of bending to God’s will. To pay back those perceived offenses, men will claim they are harmed and demand news laws to protect them from such harms. The laws then start chipping away at the foundations of our freedoms.
The other side of the coin can be equally severe. Did you know that child porn was at one time covered under freedom of speech and freedom of press laws? I was in my first semester of college when I learned of that, and all I knew to do then was to pray.
So, if I want to be free to speak words from the Holy Bible, does that mean I must give people the right to parade disgusting images in front of my family? It would seem so with all that is becoming uncensored even in “prime time” television. Little kids now have to see displays of homosexuality, feminine products well before they understand such things, and commercials about drugs for herpes. I don’t know if the scantily clad underwear commercials are in family hour time slots or not, but I know I don’t like them paraded in front of my husband either.
Even though I don’t want all that stuff shared as freely as it is, I would probably be a little more understanding if there was some balance. A channel owned by the once family-friendly Disney company (ABC) puts out a disclaimer before showing The 700 Club, but they don’t put out a disclaimer before displaying language, witchcraft, sexuality, etc. Why not? Because they don’t care if they offend people with the ungodly stuff? Or just because we, as Christians, try so hard to be “harmless as doves” that they know we are not as apt to march in protest or hire an attorney to file a civil lawsuit? As frustrating as the imbalance is, I’m thankful that we can at least still see the programming.
We may not be able to control how others will react to our words, but we can do our best to line up everything we say an do in our own lives to the written word of God. That said, I decided to look up some Bible Scriptures on speaking, and I found some interesting instructions in the 10th chapter of the book of Matthew. Compare the following two Scriptures…
Matthew 10:27 (NKJV) (Yeshua speaking) “Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops.”
Matthew 10:19-20 (NKJV) Yeshua had more words for them. “But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.“
Matthew 10:16 (NKJV) Yeshua gave the disciples a warning. “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.“
I know I have the verses reverse of how you would read them, but it was reading them in this context that showed me something. God wants us to shout His words from the roof tops. We first need the confidence that no matter what men say about God’s word being offensive, it is His will for us to share it. But, confidence alone is not enough. what we share, when, and with whom we share it must all be led by God’s Holy Spirit.
Just because God anoints us, and we are truly wise and harmless, we have no guarantee that we won’t be delivered to uncomfortable situations or face false accusations of offense. After all, we are still carrying these words of life into a world of wolves that desire darkness and death and that despise the Light. Don’t give up, though. If Christ has set you free, you are free indeed, and you can celebrate that freedom with Him…especially since it’s “Freedom of Speech Week.”
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