The Farmer's Parable

Do you remember the parable about the farmer and the travelers?  It goes something like this. 

A traveler was walking down the lane and came upon a farmer working in his garden.  "What sort of people live in the next town" asked the traveler.

"What were the people like where you've come from" answered the farmer.

"They were a bad lot.  Troublemakers all, and lazy too.  The most selfish people in the world, and not a one of them to be trusted.  I'm happy to be leaving the scoundrels."

To which the farmer answered "well, I'm afraid that you'll find the same sort in the next town."

Not long after, another traveler passed by this same farmer and asked the same question.  "What sort of people live in the next town?"

Once again, the farmer asked "what were the people like where you've come from?"

The traveler answered "they were the best people in the world, hard working, honest, and friendly.  I'm sorry to have to leave them."

"You'll find the same sort in the next town" answered the farmer.  Of course the farmer was talking about the same destination.

I could drop into a whole long list of cliché's here, but I won't.  I'm just going to talk about a couple of athletes that I've encountered.

One of them always complained about his teammates.  He wondered out loud if he was going to have to win this game by himself.  Even went on social media after a close loss complaining that he was the only one who really gave full effort in that game. 

He "led" by yelling at others.  Not really encouragement but I guess not all negative either.  And woe be to the player that made a mistake.  He was in their face, ranting loudly.   Of course, he never made a mistake.

This other player walked onto the field and seemed genuinely surprised at his good fortune.  A starter but maybe not a star, he thought he must be truly lucky to have earned that coveted starting position.

Despite that, he remained the hardest worker on the team, coming early, staying late, and always giving all he had.  When a teammate made a big play, no one on the field was more excited than this kid. 

He thought his teammates were the greatest people in the world.  When he was injured for a brief time, he was his replacement's biggest supporter. 

Now which of these kids do you think is going to be the best leader?  Which one do you think will be most successful in life?

What were the people like where you came from?