the strawberry vine
Posted to Stories
by brooklyn on 2003-04-04 08:43:00
This is not a story I wrote -- it's a story my favorite high school teacher (Mr. Arnold, 9th grade, Social Studies) told us when he introduced the class to the philosophy of Buddhism. It's stuck with me occasionally all my life, and it goes something like this:
A guy is running in a jungle, chased by a bunch of tigers. The tigers are planning to eat him and he is running really fast. He comes to a fork in the path where he either has to jump off a huge 500-foot cliff or step directly into the path of a herd of elephants. He chooses the cliff and jumps. He falls about 200 feet towards a certain death, but somehow manages to grab a strawberry vine that is sprouting from the side of the cliff.
He hangs there hanging from the thin vine. He looks down and sees a drop of 300 more feet and a raging rock-filled river. He looks up and sees the tigers gathered above, looking quizzically at their lost victim.
He sees a big red strawberry growing on the vine, and with his free hand plucks it and takes a bite. He says "this strawberry sure tastes good."
That story comes to you courtesy of Mr. Arnold, my favorite teacher from high school.
-- Levi
