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A Parable on Common Sense

One day a group of 100 people were hiking together through the woods. They took an uncharted turn through a ravine and came upon a gorgeous hidden valley. Before long they came to a grove of beautiful trees. They all gathered around several of the trees to examine what appeared to be $100 bills growing on the branches. There were hundreds, if not thousands of hundreds.

The leader of the group picked one of the Benjamins and examined it. She first checked the serial number and compared it to the bills still growing. They were all different. In fact, everything about the currency appeared authentic right down to the embedded security strip. Everyone in the group was awestruck.

They began to discuss what ought to be done. A group of twenty-five of the hikers refused to believe what they were seeing. They discussed the matter at length and further convinced each other that the money was not really there.

A second group of twenty-five decided they d take a single sample from each tree to make sure the $100s were not counterfeit. They discussed the many ways to test each note for authenticity.

Another group of 25 decided they should dig up one of the trees and do extensive research on the roots, the soil, and what kind of nutrients the tree needed. They were at odds over which tree should be tested so they continued to discuss the problem into the night.

Yet another group of 15 decided to contact the US Department of Agriculture and report the phenomenon. They immediately began their journey back to civilization to make the contact.

Five of the remaining ten decided they would do an exhaustive study of the valley to see if they could determine the origin of the trees and what type of conditions they thrived in.

The remaining five hikers emptied their backpacks and stuffed them with thousands and thousands of bills. They left the valley to enjoy the money which somehow proved to be authentic and were never heard from again.

What s the point? Most people will spend their lives examining the roots rather than pick the fruits.

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