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The Three Parables of Cow
Februrary 3, 2006  |  by Michael Tivana

Enjoy and let's hope for the best culture with the best system for the best future imaginable.

Rev. Rich Lang received the first parable from a friend and it is on Capitalism. He received a good reply on Socialism and sent them both out. I read them both and having lived in a culture that represents a third choice, I thought I would throw my parable in on Anarchism.
Enjoy,
Michael Tivana

VENTURE CATTLE

Once upon a time in a land far far away, there was a small village. Life in the village was not hard, but it was not easy either.

The villagers worked hard in their fields to grow food for themselves and their cow, which supplied them with milk. Each year, they bred their cow and butchered the calf for winter meat. Additionally they did some hunting. They worked about six hours in the field and six hours caring for their cow(s) and hunting.

One year, Sam thought, "If I DON'T butcher my calf this year, I can breed it next year and have FOUR cows.

Sam did not butcher his calf that year. Instead, he worked extra hard in the fields to grow more food for himself and the TWO cows, and spent every spare moment hunting to supplement his food supply. The neighbors scoffed and laughed at him. The told him that it was stupid to feed two cows when one of them should be feeding HIM. Sam said little; he just worked 16 hours a day. Times were hard for Sam.

The next year, Sam had FOUR cows. He butchered one of them, so he didn't have to hunt so much, but he still had to work in the fields to feed THREE cows and his family. He only had to work fourteen hours a day. The other villagers still scoffed and laughed at Sam. They pointed and called him a fool. Even his wife appeared to have doubts about the situation. Sam said little; he just worked harder.

The next year, Sam had SIX cows. He butchered one of them for his family, and offered to butcher another for his neighbor, IF his neighbor would give him a supply of feed for the remaining FOUR cows. The neighbor thought, "It will take me four hours a day to care for and feed my calf; yet it will only take me three hours a day to expand my efforts in my fields to provide the food. Yes, I'll do it." The bargain was made.

Sam still had to work in the fields to provide for his family and he still had to care for his herd of FOUR cows, but he was working "only" thirteen hours a day. Most of the neighbors still scoffed and laughed at him. They said, "What did it get you? You worked all those extra hours, and now you're still working more than us. You just wasted two years. Why don't you butcher three of those cows, freeze the meat and take it easy for the next three years?" Some of the villagers said nothing; they just looked very thoughtful.

The next year, Sam had EIGHT cows. He butchered one cow for his family and made the same deal as before with his neighbor, but also included another neighbor to provide food for FIVE cows AND his family. That year, Sam needed to work only eight hours a day to care for his herd of FIVE cows and do some hunting. The neighbors provided his crop food in exchange for a butchered cow.

The next year, Sam had TEN cows. He made the same bargains as before, but made bargains with THREE neighbors. Since the extra amount needed was so small, the third neighbor also agreed to care for the herd. Sam did not have to work at all, except for sport hunting and overseeing his agreements.

This continued for several years. At the end of that time, Sam had a herd of fifty cows, and agreements with six neighbors. One of the neighbors simply oversaw Sam's agreements. The next year Sam had NINETY cows.

The villagers found that they could obtain beef quite cheaply, and few chose to raise and butcher their own calf. They found that they could perform a few chores for Sam and obtain as much beef as they desired. What used to take four hours a day now took only two hours a week. The villagers worked an average of seven hours a day and ate beef five times a week instead of twice a week.

It occurred to the villagers that while they were working seven hours a day, Sam was not working at all. The villagers began complaining and mumbling among themselves. "Why doesn't HE work?" they began to ask. "Why do WE have to work so hard?" they complained. "This isn't FAIR!" they screamed.

They began to mutter and grumble amongst themselves as to how the "distribution of wealth wasn't fair". They discussed a "tax on the rich"-those with more than ten cattle. Sam attempted to point out to them how they were working less than before and eating more beef than ever-to no avail. "You OWE US!" they shrieked; "You could not have done it without our labor. Without US, you could not have raised and cared for more than three or four cows."

QUESTION: What is it that Sam "owes" the villagers? - Capitalism

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THE VILLAGE CEO

Once upon a time in a land fairly close by, there was a small village. Life there was good. In the morning the children ran things, and reminded everyone of what it was like to be young and have fun playing games. In the afternoon the people worked for about 4 hours gathering and preparing food and other items from the forest, which was enough to give them everything they needed. When anyone in the village was in need, the community provided.

In the evenings, the elders told the villagers meaningful and entertaining stories about the village's history and about how to live together in community with each other and with nature.

One day Sam thought, "you know, I don't buy all these stories. I don't trust that my needs will always be met by this community. I'd better keep some of the products I make from the forest for myself just in case. And I certainly don't trust nature either: what if things change, and we can no longer get food so easily? I'd better get as much out of the forest as I can, while I have the chance."

Sam works hard, skipping the play time and story time to accumulate more food and other goods from the forest. After a while, he starts to forget the stories of the elders. One day a fellow villager is in need: her child is ill, so she doesn't have enough time to work in the forest to get food as she usually does. She asks Sam for some of his extra food so that she can both eat and care for her child. Sam, scared that someday he may become ill or injured himself and not be taken care of, refuses: he wants to keep his extra food as an insurance policy or "investment" for himself.

Although with the help and hard work of the other villagers the mother and child survive, Sam's behavior shocks the village. What is becoming of their community? Don't they care for each other any more? Can they really continue to trust each other as they have in the past?

Many villagers become scared and start acting just like Sam. More and more of them start skipping play and story time, and they begin to forget the stories of their elders. They notice the forest gradually becoming thinner and smaller as they use more and more of it, which causes them to get even more frightened and insecure. Fighting and violence breaks out among them as people scramble to get their piece of the remaining forest.

Sam decides to take advantage of the situation to get himself even more security. He makes a bargain with the villagers that if they work for him he'll share some of the food (and other items he's hoarded) with them if needed.

The villagers, scared and insecure about their future, agree. Sam becomes their CEO, something the villagers have never before known. He sets up a division of labor beneficial to him, and gets control of the distribution of food. "Wages" are introduced: you must work for the CEO in order to get paid, which is what lets you get food; if you don't work according to the CEO's instructions, you don't get fed.

The villagers must work harder than ever in order to feed both themselves and Sam (whose only work now is in telling others what to do), who keeps them in line by scaring them with stories about what would happen if he weren't around and running things. Those who question or resist the CEO's rule are punished, sometimes by force but more often through public ridicule and diminished wages. Those who support him (sometimes by writing silly parables about cows) are rewarded, or at least left alone. In the meantime the forest continues to get thinner and smaller.

One day though, in spite of all his accumulated wealth and relative youth, Sam grows severely ill. He can only be cured by a special healing ceremony that has to be performed by the majority of the villagers.

QUESTION: What is it that the villagers "owe" Sam? - Socialism

Manu

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The Land of Natural Time

Once upon a time in a land not so far away, there was a large city that raised cows. Life in Rainbow city was not hard and everyone was happy to contribute their time and talents to make the city a great place to live, and this went for the cows as well. Each person was glad to be a part of a greater whole, and the common good flourished. Nobody thought about their individual wealth because there was so much shared abundance, nobody except one man.

His name was Sam and he lived alone in a mansion on the hill. Sam liked living on the hill where ho could look out over the entire city that he pretended to own. He imagined he owned all the houses, all the trees and gardens and even all the people.

Meanwhile the people spent their days all excited to do whatever was needed to be done to make the city shine. There was a pride that fed the constant hum of the people as they sang through their various self assigned chores. All felt meaning in contributing to the well being of their city and looked for ways to express themselves in making their city work for everyone, especially the cows.

Sam spent his time in the marketplace where a few traders would go to try and out trade one another. The people of Rainbow City thought it more sport than anything and most did not go to the trader's circle.

The people had no problem becoming accepted and feeling significant, everyone was welcome. Sharing the abundance of their labor was the key value of the people and the result was there was no hunger or homelessness or crime and lots of cows. All those tempting feelings that go along with accumulating materials were gone. No hoarding, no envy, no competition beyond sport and the primary objective was to have fun and enjoy a quality life among a lot of cows.

Sam was very good at trading because he loved to accumulate things. He spent his time trading and taking his trade goods home each night and storing them in his mansion. Over time he was able to persuade other people into wanting to accumulate too. Sam developed a currency that would allow his new friends to work for him so they too could accumulate more by buying things. Sam had a system worked out where he controlled the currency which resulted in room after room being filled with all his material wealth. Furniture, jewelry, and cows were all there and all coveted by a growing number of people from the city.

One day a wise young man named Joe saw what was happening with Sam and his workers and came up with a plan to bring Sam back into the Rainbow City culture. He thought of a way to soften Sam's heart. He found someone in need, a little girl, orphaned by the tragic death of her parents from a climbing accident and the two of them went off to pay Sam a visit.

They knocked on the door and a butler answered. "May I help you?"
"Yes we would like to see Sam about a personal matter," Joe said.
"Master Sam is a very busy man, he does not have time for you", said the butler.
"I see, please, we have a problem and we need your help. This little girl needs to see Master Sam because her life depends on it. At least go and ask Master Sam if he would see Patti just for a moment, it is very important".
"Ok, wait here," the butler said.

A few minutes later Joe and the girl were led up to the top of the mansion to Sam's office.
"What do you want, I am busy giving my workers jobs to do, make it quick," said Sam. "I have come to ask for your help", said the little girl. "Help? What is your name", asked Sam. "My name is Patti and I am an orphan that needs care and I thought if you would be so generous as to donate to my care it would be most appreciated," said Patti.

Sam thought on this for awhile and finally felt it would do no harm to give something of his great wealth to the little girl. He reached into his pocket and came up with a small unpolished stone. "Here take this poor little girl, and be off with you," said Sam.

Patti looked at the worthless unpolished stone and instead of ridiculing Sam for his miserly insensitivity she said, "why thank you Sam, this is so precious, are you sure you can part with it, this is so generous of you," and they left. Sam was puzzled by the response. He had never thought of himself as generous, this was a new feeling for him.

A week later Joe and Patti returned and appealed to Sam's generosity once again and this time Sam gave a larger, well polished stone. Patti said, "Wow, you certainly are generous, this makes me very happy. I thank you very much, the city thanks you too."

Sam was even more amused, the city thanks me, and his thoughts of being accepted and significant in the community sparked a little glow in him and his heart began to warm.

And again and again Joe and Patti kept going back to see Sam and each time Sam gave a little more than the last time until Sam gave away most of his wealth and all of his cows. He felt so overjoyed with the feeling of being a part of the city instead of owning the city that he invited his servants to come live in his mansion. They accepted his generous offer and became good friends instead of workers. They worked even harder because they loved exercising their hearts desire in the gardens or tending the cows, or enjoying cooking and all loved playing music.

Sam's home became a gathering place and the fun and mirth that came from the mansion on the hill made it the most popular spot in the city. The city got back to normal and everyone lived happily ever after. Oh, and the people of Rainbow City never ate the cows, they just liked hanging out with them.

Question: "Nobody owes nobody nothing" - Anarchism

Tivana

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