Bodonation

I read this anecdote on fifaworld before the Ecuador match.

Lost in the middle of nowhere, a master and his servant were
looking for assistance when they came across a small shack. In front of
the hut was a single cow. The master knocked on the door and a man
opened it.

"What can I do for you?," the owner asked, with a smile on his lips.
"We’ve had some transport problems and wondered if you could give us shelter for the night?"
"Of course,” came the reply. “Come in and make yourselves at home."

His wife invited the guests to sit down to dinner, which consisted of
milk, cheese and beef. The servant, surprised by the surroundings, then
said to the hosts: "All I’ve seen is a cow in front of your house. How
do you live like this?"

"It’s like this," answered the man. "The cow gives us milk, and her
calves give us the hides we need to make clothes and the meat we need
to eat. What else do we need?"

After dinner, everyone went to their rooms. The next morning, the
guests thanked their hosts and left. After they departed, the master
turned to his servant and ordered him to return and kill their cow.

In spite of his astonishment, the servant carried out the order. The
event weighed on his conscience for years, until he finally decided to
return to the place to find out what had happened to the family.
Imagine his surprise when he arrived at an enormous estate, full of
animals, containing a mill and various other outhouses.

Amazed, he knocked on the door, which was opened by a man he didn’t recognise.

"What can I do for you?" he asked.
"I was here many years ago, but everything was very different. I was
wondering what happened to the family who used to live here," said the
servant.
"That must be us, we’ve never moved."
"But how have you come by all of this wealth?"
"Well actually, something very strange happened. One morning we woke up
and our cow was dead. We had no choice but to embark on a new life full
of hard work and new challenges, which has led us to where we are
today."

Ecuador’s coach, Luis Suarez reportedly gathered his troops and said
"Gentlemen, we’re going to play in a World Cup. It’s time to kill your cows."

Sometimes we have to take stock of what we are doing in life and kill our cows too. Maybe it will be for the better.

Just reflecting on some thoughts that had been bugging me for the past few weeks.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 15th, 2006 at 8:11 am and is filed under life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.