(A Short Moral Story)
One day, a snail saw a man walking into the woods, then he began to scream for attention,“Mister! Mister! Come over here! Please, do me a favor! Mister!”
The man suddenly stopped and walked towards the snail, asking, “What’s the matter with you?” The snail whistled,“Get me out of my shell, please. I’m so uncomfortable inside it. Please, get me out!”The man stood, wondering for a short moment, then asked, “But why?
Isn’t that funny? Why do you want to come out of your protective shell?”The snail snapped his teeth together, and turning abruptly, said,“I told you I feel very uneasy inside it! It’s a heavy burden for me to carry all alone! I want freedom! Please, pull me out of this nasty shell!”
The man leaned for ward, and then whispered,“You’re not serious, are you?”The snail hollered suddenly,“Well, I am very serious! I want to be free like other creatures, such as: the slug, the worm, the squid, the octopus, the snake, etc. I want to move around freely, but I feel so trapped inside my cursed shell!”
The man paused for a moment, then uttered silently,“Listen, while you seek freedom, you should understand that your shell is a gift from God to you. A unique gift. It protects you from the environment and even from predators.
However, if you choose to come out of it, you will lose that precious gift forever and you will never be able to get back inside it.”The snail began to wail, unable to keep the impatience out of his voice,“O, Mister… I don’t care about that, with all due respect. I just need you to do what I told you. Get me out of my shell, please. Now, please!”The snail persisted, until the man agreed to his request. He picked him up and gently pulled him out of his shell.
Although, the process was a bit painful, the snail was happy to have finally gained freedom.However, as the snail began to crawl away, a hungry bird suddenly flew down, grabbed it and swallowed it immediately. Having witnessed that, the man shook his head in pity and walked away.How easy it is to take our blessings for granted! We find it easy to complain and be ungrateful for what we have. We have been blessed in so many areas, yet so often, we dwell on what we don’t have and strive to be someone else. We compare ourselves to others, forgetting our innate ability that makes us unique or stand us out from others.
We shouldn’t be too desperate. We shouldn’t be selfish. And we shouldn’t be cruel to ourselves. The truth is, when we don’t understand our worth and value our lives, we tend to lose something special. We need to cultivate a culture where we count our blessings more than we complain. If we sat still and started counting our blessings and naming them one by one, we would never have time to complain or try to be like someone else.
BY NIGERIAN AUTHOR (Chima Dickson)
The Ethiopian Herald March 17/2024
