Co-written with my amazing daughter, Kaia.
Once upon a time there lived a wise deer who taught many creatures of the forest. One day, an overly eager (and very silly) squirrel came to the deer to learn about the world. He walked right up to the great teacher and interrupted her from her evening meditation. He told her that he wanted to know everything, and he insisted that she teach him all she knows “immediately.”
The wise deer smiled, took a long, deep breath and replied, “ I appreciate your enthusiasm, but no one can know everything: at least not in one lifetime, anyway.” Nonetheless, she invited the squirrel to become a pupil. She told him to return in the morning, and his education would begin.
The silly squirrel quickly replied that he didn’t want to be a pupil, he just wanted her to teach him everything. Before the deer could tell him what the word “pupil” meant, however, he also insisted that he absolutely could learn everything. “And you should know that I have no time to wait for tomorrow morning to begin knowing everything; and I certainly cannot wait for other lifetimes to know everything,” he whined. “Just teach me everything right now!”
Now the deer closed her eyes and returned to her meditation, so the squirrel eventually left and returned in the morning. The wise deer welcomed him to her class, and told the students to begin with their morning meditation. The silly squirrel, however, said that he didn’t want to meditate, and he told the teacher that she should teach differently – and he began to bounce all around and talk to the other animals. Whenever the wise teacher would attempt to teach the little squirrel, he would interrupt her and tell her that he was eager to know everything. As you can imagine, it was very difficult for the other creatures of the forest to concentrate, and it was nearly impossible for the wise deer to teach the silly squirrel anything, let alone everything, because he simply wouldn’t sit still and listen.
Soon enough, the squirrel got bored and returned to his home without learning anything.
The lesson: Good teachers are happy to teach all that they know, but they cannot teach those who will not listen. And that is why being eager to learn is important, but being able to be still and listen is even more important.
This story is applicable for children and adults alike. After all, how many times, even as adults, do we think that we “already know” something? Perhaps it’s important for us all to take some time to be still and listen this week…