Yesterday night, the bedtime story was Aesop’s Fable of the Fox and The Grapes. As I was explaining the story and it’s morals to my toddler, the first question he asked was why didn’t the fox try shaking the branches so that the big fat grapes fall down. To answer, I had tried one explanation that the vine was too strong and second the fox was too tired. Unfortunately he didn’t believe it.
Late night, the moral of the story was going around in my head like clockwork. It’s so easy to speak ill of the things we can’t attain. Why do we do it ? May be it helps to distance ourselves from our failures, of what we couldn’t or can’t have. May be it does help us to dissociate ourselves between our ideas, beliefs or thoughts against what has happened. Yet the reality is by calling the ripe “sour” doesn’t change anything.
Life is full of goals, desires, ambitions and temptations. Some of them are within grasp but the rest we have to let go, either by choice or by circumstances. Though at times we do regret that the may-haves would have been possible if we gave a little extra push from our side. Although by blinding our eyes and declaring the true, false may bring momentary gratification but it doesn’t change the situation. Instead we miss out on another attempt for something better. For unless we pluck up the courage to admit and determine what went wrong, we will continue on the path of disappointment and disillusionment, eluding the “ripe grapes” repeatedly.
The fox who longed for grapes, beholds with pain
The tempting clusters were too high to gain;
Grieved in his heart he forced a careless smile,
And cried, ‘They’re sharp and hardly worth my while
(a quatrain by Aphra Behn in Francis Barlow’s illustrated edition of the fables (1687))
Sugar And Spice... Among Other Things 