Once upon a time there lived a small rotund creature named Ernie.
Ernie was a fairly simple soul, and he lived a peaceful and quiet life…
..enjoying many rich friendships along the way.
One day though, Ernie received a letter!
“Dear Ernie”, it read. “We have noticed your interpersonal skills and would like to invite you to join our prestigious organization: the Senate, or the house of sober second thought.”
Ernie felt a rush of pride! Nobody had ever asked him to be ‘a somebody’ before.
He also felt the stirrings of other strange and new emotions.. perhaps a touch of vanity.. and a small, slight glimmer of greed.
These created some changes in Ernie – he started to stand a little straighter…
.. walk with a hint of a swagger…
.. and found his previous pursuits not quite apropos to his new found status.
Ernie took to curling his tuft of hair into little ringlets…
… and traveling by litter so as to not sully his person with the common folk.
Having a gift for oration, Ernie rose quickly in his new senate position…
.. and soon found himself in high demand…
…with multiple social engagements and societal responsibilities.
Anyway, time passed as it always does…
…and Ernie started to find himself wearying of all the demands on him.
He found himself longing for more simple times..
…and thinking of his old friend Rosebud the bird.
One night Ernie bolted awake: he had an epiphany!
He realized that he had given – nay – thrown! to others freely the only thing he truly had in life – his time!
At that moment, Ernie resolved: no more. And with that, his spirit rejoiced (and his hair uncurled).
He wasted no more time in saying goodbye to the gilded cage that his ambition, greed, and vanity had created, and ran off into the forest…
.. and lived peacefully – and contentedly – ever after.
Later, when asked about his time in the Senate, Ernie was fond of quoting Seneca, and would say with a small smile: “Sir, when you see a man repeatedly wearing the robe of office, or one whose name is often spoken in the Forum, do not envy him: these things are won at the cost of life. In order that one year may be dated from their names they will waste all their own years.”
simonandfinn 