Continuing on this Learning Organization and Story Telling thread, I came
across a wonderful joke this evening that I thought might make a few good
points and add another bit of humor. It came from a list that Roxanne
Abbas suggested to me and that has been MOST interesting over the past
year.
Anyway,
Moishe and the Pope
**Contributed to Swenny's E-Mail Funnies by Donna Reed, Lindsey, Ohio**
About a century or two ago, the Pope decided that all the Jews had to
leave Rome. Naturally there was a big uproar from the Jewish community.
So the Pope made a deal. He would have a religious debate with a member of
the Jewish community. If the Jew won, the Jews could stay. If the Pope
won, the Jews would leave. The Jews realized that they had no choice.
They looked around for a champion who could defend their faith, but no one
wanted to volunteer.
It was too risky. So they finally picked an old man named Moishe who spent
his life sweeping up after people to represent them. Being old and poor,
he had less to lose, so he agreed. He asked only for one addition to the
debate. Not being used to saying very much as he cleaned up around the
settlement, he asked that neither side be allowed to talk. The pope
agreed.
The day of the great debate came. Moishe and the Pope sat opposite each
other for a full minute before the Pope raised his hand and showed three
fingers. Moishe looked back at him and raised one finger. The Pope waved
his fingers in a circle around his head. Moishe pointed to the ground
where he sat. The Pope pulled out a wafer and a glass of wine. Moishe
pulled out an apple.
The Pope stood up and said, 'I give up. This man is too good. The Jews can
stay.' An hour later, the cardinals were all around the Pope asking him
what happened. The Pope said: 'First I held up three fingers to represent
The Trinity. He responded by holding up one finger to remind me that there
was still one God common to both our religions.
Then I waved my finger around me to show him, that God was all around us.
He responded by pointing to the ground, showing that God was also right
here with us. I pulled out the wine and the wafer to show that God
absolves us from our sins. He pulled out an apple to remind me of original
sin. He had an answer for everything. What could I do?'
Meanwhile, the Jewish community had crowded around Moishe, amazed that
this old, almost feeble-minded man had done what all their scholars had
insisted was impossible! 'What happened?' they asked.
'Well,' said Moishe, 'First he said to me that the Jews had 3 days to get
out of here. I told him that not one of us was leaving. Then he waved his
hand around and told me that this whole city would be cleared of Jews. I
let him know that we were staying right here.'
'And then?' asked a woman.
'I don't know,' said Moishe. 'He took out his lunch and I took out mine.'
It just illustrates one more bit of reality about communications!
-- For the FUN of It!Scott Simmerman, author of the Square Wheels toolkits Performance Management Company Taylors, SC (USA) SquareWheels@compuserve.com -- We support consultants and trainers worldwide -- with products like The Search for the Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine http://www.clicknow.com/stagedright/dutchman/
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>