18 The Three Toys


The Three Toys
A teacher was talking to the class about the topic of friendship. She produced three toys and asked the students to study them with care to see if they could find any differences. All three toys looked identical and the students told the teacher this.
She told them to look again this time much more closely. At last, some of them began to notice there were little differences. After a while, the students began to tell her that one of the toys had holes in its ears. another a hole in its ear and its mouth.
The teacher then said that it did not stop there. She produced a long needle. When she pushed the needle into the ear of the first toy it passed right through and back out of the other ear. In the second toy, the needle went into the ear and appeared out of the mouth. In the third toy, the needle went in but no matter how long they waited it did not appear coming back out. 
The teacher told them that the toys were very much like the people around us and ourselves. Some give the impression we are listening, but it goes in and straight back out. Others listen but then go on to tell what they have heard twisting it to suit themselves.
Others listen in earnest and rather than gossip keep it to themselves and offer their help. What kind of person are we? 

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