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Once upon a time long ago and far away there lived a small group of people in a village at the edge of a vast and beautiful forest. The men of the village planted and hunted while the women gathered all kinds of delicious foods in the nearby forest.
One day while in the forest picking flowers for their hair the ladies were frightened by a big tiger. When the men heard about what happened, they ran into the forest to drive the tiger away. When the men found the tiger, they took one look at it, turned on their heels, and fled. It was the biggest, fiercest looking tiger they had ever seen.
Back in the village the men and women met to decide what to do about the tiger. They felt helpless and scared. Then one man suggested, “Let’s go ask the Old Wise Man of our village what we should do.” They all agreed this was a good idea.
The sun was high in the sky and all eyes were on the Old Wise Man as he walked calmly, staff in hand, into the forest. It was more than two hours before he was seen returning from the forest. Everyone sighed a sigh of relief. They had been concerned that maybe the worst had happened to the Old Wise Man. When he was close enough so all could hear he asked them to meet with him at sundown in front of his home. They all agreed to be there.
The sun was setting as all the villagers gathered to hear what the Old Wise Man had to tell them. He stood before them, looking them over, making eye contact first with one and then with another. Then a warm smile appeared on his face as he announced, “You will not be bothered by the tiger again. He’s gone.”
Someone asked, “How did you do it?”
“How did I do it? Well, this is how: first I must tell you I have always been fond of observing tigers. In my youth I spent many hours in the forest hoping to see a tiger. Whenever I found one I would keep my distance and just watch. Many tigers in the forest came to know me by sight and scent and allowed me to observe them.
“Today when I came upon your tiger it did not take me long to understand what was going on here. When you know tigers as I do you can easily spot anything out of the ordinary – which I did quickly. Your tiger did not act like any tiger I had ever seen. It aroused my suspicions, so I decided to observe it at a distance. The more I watched, the more my suspicions were confirmed. So I stepped out of my hiding place and walked straight toward the tiger.”
At this point an anxious murmur rippled thru the villagers. The Old Wise Man continued, “It turns out your tiger was a fake tiger. Some mischievous boys from the neighboring village had taken a tiger skin they had found and draped it over their bodies to scare people in the forest.
When they realized I was not frightened and was onto them, they soon took off their disguise and confessed. I scolded them and made them promise to return the tiger skin to where it belonged and not to ever frighten people again. I feel certain that’s the end of the problem.”
End of story.
This story is a perfect illustration for understanding difficult people. They’re all in reality undisciplined children wearing a disguise. Any difficult person can be handled with complete ease, confidence and poise.
Our lofty aim is to learn all about human nature while not being critical of people. We’re not being critical when we say someone is a difficult person if that’s a fact and we don’t resent them. When we better understand others, we better understand ourselves.
The How to (Easily) Handle Difficult People Handbook
Everything Problem-People Don't Want You to Know
Successful Living Series
Murray Oxman
This little booklet was found by Ang as we continue to clean up and put all our 'stuff' in the proper locations. What a pain in the arse
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