The Big Bull & the Settlers

A post-election parable...

Once upon a time, there was a very, very large bull. I mean, like, huuuuuge. There was never a bull so big, so bold or so beautiful.

He agreed to help a small group of settlers travel to a far-off land, clear the ground and make a new place to live.

The great big bull was sometimes scary.

He would snort. He would paw the ground. If he didn’t get pet enough, he would get grumpy. With a creature so large, that could be quite frightening. And the bull always required feeding. Lots and lots of feeding.

But having such a big bull on their side also provided some advantages to the settlers.

When bandits tried to plunder the them, the very large bull would charge the scoundrels down and scrape their backs raw with his sandpaper-rough nose. He would toss them in the air and kick them far, far away.

When it came to clearing ground for the settlers to build their new home, the bull was impressive. He could knock down trees. His sharp horns would strip the trees and his teeth would cut through trunks so that cozy log cabins could be built. His enormous hooves would even cut trenches in the ground for watering crops.

But then, when all the homes were built, the settlers realized they had a problem.

The big bull, who had helped clear the way, was now an unhelpful bully.

Anyone who dared to ask the bull to move his huge rump out of the path to the village well would be given the same treatment the evil bandits had once received. When new settlers would arrive, hoping to start a life in the growing village themselves, the bull would scare them off.

Even worse, when the villagers found another bull, one who was just as hard working but much less selfish, the big bull tried to charge him down and kill him!

One night, as the big bull lay sleeping, the villagers gathered together and held a whispered town hall meeting. Some of the settlers, still in awe of the big bull’s power, would hear no challenges to his place in the village.

Others, pointing to the new, hard-working and loyal bull, argued that by sending the big bull away, they would not only be able to have all the benefits without any of the liabilities, but that even more people would want to move into the village. “We can still be grateful to the big bull! We can even let him visit sometimes,” they argued.

The settlers reached a stalemate. They would only be able to get rid of the big bull if they all worked together. But those who felt obligated to the bull for his past services just wouldn’t agree to send him on his way.

Finally, a little boy stood up to speak: “The question we have to ask is, Are we here to make the big bull happy, or are we here to have happy lives? Do we want to grow, make a place for more people, and build a new kind of village? Or, do we want to spend our days feeding the bull?”

Everyone sat in silence, thinking long and hard.