Sour Grapes

 

Among Aesop's Fables is the tale of The Fox and The Grapes. 

A hungry fox saw some fine bunches of grapes hanging from a vine that was trained along a high trellis and did his best to reach them by jumping as high as he could into the air. But it was all in vain for they were just out of reach. So he gave up trying and just walked away with an air of dignity and unconcern, remarking, "I thought those grapes were ripe but I see now they are quite sour."

At the risk of passing undue judgment upon this poor fox, psychologists would call his reaction cognitive dissonance which, simply put, is the inability to hold incompatible ideas simultaneously, in the case of the fox, desire and frustration.  In an attempt to reduce the dissonance he resorted to criticism or disdain. The fox reasoned with himself by pronouncing the grapes as sour anyway. This is where the expression "sour grapes" originated.  

Often times we ourselves set a goal, have a desire or are determined to solve a problem and when we are met with the inevitable obstacles in the pursuit of the prize we begin to reason with ourselves, denigrate the cause and rather than admit our failure or lack of drive, we rationalize that it's not what we really wanted anyway or it's actually not worth the effort.

Acres of Diamonds

In my constant pensiveness over the course of my life's work there is always the consideration for the future. Someone once said anxiety arises within us when our mind is on the future. This is true but to be honest it's a challenge to draw the line between being responsible about our prospective circumstances and our mindful contentment for today. It always comes down to the question of whether I have something of value to offer or looking elsewhere for some other device outside myself like investments or a particular employment that will help ensure my future well being.

There is an old true story called Acres of Diamonds that recounts the tale of a wealthy African rancher by the name of Ali Hafed who heard that diamonds had been discovered on the continent and people were becoming wealthy by starting diamond mines. Ali decided he too wanted to start his own diamond mine so he sold his estate and set off in search of the gleaming gems. He spent years seeking them unsuccessfully and finally, despondent  after spending his entire fortune on the endeavor took his own life.

Meanwhile back on the ranch, the new owner of Ali's property was watering his livestock in a stream when he noticed what he thought to be a large crystal on the bed of the stream. He pick it up and kept it as an interesting curio only to later discover that it wasn't a crystal at all but actually a diamond. It turned out that the land upon which the ranch was located was full of diamonds and eventually became the Galgotha Diamond Mine; one of the most productive ever.

So Ali Hafed had owned, free and clear, acres of diamonds but gave it all up to search for them elsewhere. If he had only taken the time to explore his own property and learned what he could about diamonds he would have found the wealth he sought just beneath his feet.

So the moral of course is how I need to exploit all the value I currently possess, a practice I've neglected, before seeking it elsewhere.