The moral to be drawn from “Chicken Little” depends on the version.
Where there is a “happy ending”, the moral is not to be a “Chicken” but to have courage.
In other versions where the birds are eaten by the fox, the fable is interpreted as a warning not to believe everything one is told.
Perceptions
Our perceptions are shaped by prior knowledge, beliefs, assumptions, and expectations. We impose meaning upon the world, and while that meaning brings some things into view it blinds us a well. You’ve heard the old adage, “seeing is believing.” Well, it’s also true that “believing is seeing.” Perception is more top-down than bottom-up.
Our perceptions are shaped by prior knowledge, beliefs, assumptions, and expectations. We impose meaning upon the world, and while that meaning brings some things into view it blinds us a well. You’ve heard the old adage, “seeing is believing.” Well, it’s also true that “believing is seeing.” Perception is more top-down than bottom-up.
Richard Beck
Unhappiness
When it comes to decreasing happiness — or growing unhappiness — the United States has dropped to its lowest-ever position at 24, having previously peaked at 11th place in 2012. The report states that the number of people dining alone in the United States has increased 53% over the past two decades.
What could possibly go wrong?
South Dakota Republican Gov. Larry Rhoden signed bills into law last week allowing concealed pistols in bars and on public college campuses. Rhoden justified this law with the usual slogans that defies basic logic: “One of my favorite things about South Dakota is how much we respect freedom — especially our Second Amendment freedom.”
Sacrifice
Mostly, references to sacrifice are inaccurate virtue signaling. Not at all what Dr. King meant—or most religions and philosophies—but rather some twisted version that makes people feel virtuous while still being self-serving. I hear contestants on competitive reality shows like Survivor or Top Chef tearfully complain about how much they sacrificed to be there, leaving family behind, quitting jobs, etc. Same with elite athletes who’ve just won a championship crowing about all they’ve given up. Not going to proms or vacations so they could practice their sport.
That isn’t sacrifice!
It’s substituting one experience for another that they think will benefit them more. For them, the end goal is success, so nothing that is done in the pursuit of personal aggrandizement is a sacrifice, merely a beneficial choice. It’s a clear indication of how clueless people are about the true meaning of sacrifice when they are a contestant on The Bachelor looking for sympathy for all their “sacrifices” to come on a TV show, live in a mansion, and become minimally famous for achieving nothing. It’s just as disingenuous to sign a $10 million contract with a sports team and proclaim all the sacrifices you and your family made to get here.
I’m especially put off by people who demand sacrifice from others—usually in the form of money—in order to enrich themselves. Evangelical preachers who fly around on their private jets and politicians who hawk products and beg for donations while sitting on millions or billions of dollars aren’t saviors—they’re what we need to be saved from. FYI: MLK’s net worth at the time of his assassination in 1968 was about $50,000.
True sacrifice is when one chooses to give up something precious in order to do something that doesn’t directly benefit them but does directly benefit others.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Spiritual Striving
I am always leery when asked about various spiritual undertakings. Whether it’s a rule of prayer or a rule of fasting, the true struggle is never found in doing what is extraordinary. It is, rather, the very difficult matter of enduring what is given to us. God, in His providence, allows us all that is necessary for our salvation. Grace is primarily found within the ordinary faithfulness of our life.
Fr Stephen Freeman
We become what we worship.
If we worship power, we become instruments of vindictiveness.
If we worship money, we become instruments of theft.
If we worship pleasure, we become instruments of sex.
We become what we worship.
What we worship becomes obvious in how we live.
We become what we worship.
We don’t worship our nation, but it beckons us to give it our worship.
We don’t worship our nation, but we care about it.
We worship Christ, and when we worship Christ we turn away from the rubbish and loss and sewer crud of vindictiveness.
We worship Christ, and when we do we gaze upon a completely different kind of life.
Worshiping Christ leads to a life of grace.
Worshiping Christ leads to a life of forgiveness.
Worshiping Christ leads to a life of love.
Worshiping Christ leads to a life of peace.
Worshiping Christ leads to a life of justice.
We become what we worship.
Scot McKnight
The Challenge
The greatest challenge of the day is: how to bring about a revolution of the heart, a revolution which has to start with each one of us. When we begin to take the lowest place, to wash the feet of others, to love our brothers and sisters with that burning love, that passion, which led to the cross, then we can truly say, “Now I have begun.”
Dorothy Day
Islands of Sanity
When even two or three of us gather in the name of truth, honesty, and love, in the name of courage, compassion, and kindness, we find ourselves feeling joined by another presence—the presence of Christ, the way, the truth, and the life. We listen to one another with compassion and curiosity. We speak to one another with wisdom and wonder. We turn together toward the light. And that helps us create islands of sanity in a world that is losing its mind.
Brian McLaren
Gaslighting
Gaslighting is the attempt by someone to confuse a person’s perception of reality, an attempt to get them to question their memory and self-perception. Gaslighting confuses, distorts, and scrambles. It deceives. When done with mean-spiritedness, it intimidates and alienates. And creates fear.
Scot McKnight
Einstein said that “Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination? encircles the world.”
The Gaze of Jesus
“The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.””
Luke 22:61
— What you see in the face of Jesus as he looked at Peter is the image you have of God.—
Anger? Disappointment? Love? Forgiveness?
Jonathan Storment
ARCHIE UPDATE
Mimi Report: (3-29-25)
Mr Archie is now 6# 1 oz. He is successfully taking bottle and breast. Hopefully he will come off high-flow oxygen and move wall oxygen soon.
He continues to amaze us.
So thankful
STILL ON THE JOURNEY