OT:The wisdom of Sharing

Stone Soup

There are many variations on the story of stone soup, but they all involve a traveler coming into a town beset by famine. The inhabitants try to discourage the traveler from staying, fearing he wants them to give him food. They tell him in no uncertain terms that there’s no food anywhere to be found. The traveler explains that he doesn’t need any food and that, in fact, he was planning to make a soup to share with all of them. The villagers watch suspiciously as he builds a fire and fills a cauldron with water. With great ceremony, he pulls a stone from a bag, dropping the stone into the pot of water. He sniffs the brew extravagantly and exclaims how delicious stone soup is. As the villagers begin to show interest, he mentions how good the soup would be with just a little cabbage in it. A villager brings out a cabbage to share. This episode repeats itself until the soup has cabbage, carrots, onions, and beets—indeed, a substantial soup that feeds everyone in the village.
This story addresses the human tendency to hoard in times of deprivation. When resources are scarce, we pull back and put all of our energy into self-preservation. We isolate ourselves and shut out others. As the story of stone soup reveals, in doing so, we often deprive ourselves and everyone else of a feast. This metaphor plays out beyond the realm of food. We hoard ideas, love, and energy, thinking we will be richer if we keep to them to ourselves, when in truth we make the world, and ourselves, poorer whenever we greedily stockpile our reserves. The traveler was able to see that the villagers were holding back, and he had the genius to draw them out and inspire them to give, thus creating a spread that none of them could have created alone.

Are you like one of the villagers, holding back? If you come forward and share your gifts, you will inspire others to do the same. The reward is a banquet that can nourish many.

That was a neat story.  Thanks.

I'm with George on liking this post.  It reminds me of the hobos who use to ride the train and would get  off in our town.  There were three or four and the town knew them.  They would make it through a couple of times a year and would divide the neighborhoods up for searching for food.  My mom would always make a plate for the one who came through our neighborhood.  We called him Soda Lee because he was always using soda for his sour stomach and, of course, his name was Lee.  Anyway, Mama would make him a plate and he would eat out on the back porch but he would never take any of Mama's food.  She'd offer him a couple of potatoes or an onion, but he'd say no.  You got too many kids to worry about, he'd say.  Once, though, I took my step dad's whiskey from under the bed and gave it to him.  He took that and I was glad because I thought it would keep my step dad from getting drunk and acting a fool.  I was wrong.

I think about what I hoard and I have to say that one of the things that I have issue with is control.  I want to control every single thing. I guess that can be filed under a type of hoarding.  I think if I give up that control, something bad will happen.  DH and I have had many fights about my trying to control every thing and when he resists my control, well it ain't pretty.  I like to leave early, he likes to leave on time.  I am on a tight schedule, he does whatever feels good for that day. I plan my food and our meals, he might come home with Chinese food just out of the blue.  I don't know if this control issue has anything to do with hoarding, but it is something I know that I need to work on. 

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