I found myself swimming in a swamp--not really sure how I got there.

One day I lifted my head and I saw the most beautiful sunrise, or at least I thought it was the sun rising.

I guess it was the smile on my face or my new backstroke that alerted the alligators that I'd seen the sun rise.

This only made the alligators mad and they began to throw mud in my eyes and, consequently, my vision became blurred so I continued to swim in the swamp.

Then on another day I swam to the other side of the swamp and lifted my head and again I saw the sun rise, only this time the alligators followed me and they too saw the sun rise.

The alligators retreated to their den and came up with a plan. They invited me in and asked, "have you seen a bright yellow sphere in the sky?" I did not answer. Then they said, "if you have seen a bright yellow sphere in the sky, its only the mud in your eyes." I stopped visiting the sunrise side of the swamp.

Meanwhile the alligators gathered together and swam to the sunrise side of the swamp and they watched the sun rise day after day. While there they built a mound of dirt so high that it eventually blocked the sunrise.

I decided to return to see the sun rise just one more time. But when I lifted my head all I saw was a mound of dirt and no sunrise. I returned to their den and the alligators had already devised a story...they said, "we told you there was no bright yellow sphere in the sky and moreover the sunrise you thought you saw was just a pigeon scratching at the ground and that's how you got the mud your eyes."

Well, I'd had alot of dealings with these particular alligators and I knew how they swam. I pretended not to care about the sunrise, but each day I returned to the other side of the swamp and began to remove the mound of dirt they'd built, and you know what? soon I could see the sun rise again.

I never told the alligators I'd gone back to see the sunrise because I realised that alligators don't care about what rises above the water, they only care about what grows in the swamp.

Moral of the story is...trust me, alligators are not builders, they don't know birds and the sunrise is still beautiful. Thank God I'm a fish.

x

[Edited 10/1/13 21:06pm]

[Edited 10/1/13 23:14pm]

dupe

[Edited 10/13/13 5:52am]