...You live in a sweet little house on the edge of an enchanting forest and some days you like to go for walks in the forest. Some times the walks are refreshing and inspiring and sometimes it's a little dark and scary, but you go anyway, because you are a curious being who likes to explore.
One day you notice that on your path there's a cage that has always been there but now you realize that you can either enter the cage and spend some time in it or walk around. This cage does not seem scary to you. It's almost like a giant birdcage that's actually quite pretty and secretly inviting. You decide to observe for a while without entering. After a few days you've gathered some information. There's some flowering vines twined around the bars, birds and small animals come and go, the cage door is wide open and every day, there is a little bag of money inside the cage that is yours for the taking...BUT there is also a man sized scorpion inside. The scorpion lurks away in a corner.
In the back of your mind you felt a tiny prick of fear and forewarning the first time you realized this, but the cage is inviting and the little bag of money seems to call your name. Think of all the things you can do with it...So what do you do? Of course you enter...the scorpion is probably more scared of you than you are of it and who knows, maybe he's even just a figment of your imagination...right? After all, the animals and birds that enter there SEEM to be unharmed. The bag is there for the taking...every day. And anyways, the cage door is open. You can leave anytime you want...right?
So you enter. The first day nothing happens to you, but you see the scorpion sting a rabbit and a fox. You brush it off, you were fine and you got the bag of money. Actually you feel a little brave. Who knew you had it in you? The next day you go again. The fox has returned and are stung again. You get away with the bag of money. On the third day, inevitably, you get stung. You're so surprised, and by this time hooked on the money, that you brush it off again. Plus, you've bragged with your friends that you are now both brave and rich...you'll be more careful next time and you'll only go two days a week.
By the eighth week of choosing to enter the cage twice a week, you've been stung quite a few times, you've tried your best, cursed, cried, bargained, tried different defense strategies and you've come to the realization that (1) the scorpion is real and (2) no matter what you do or don't do, you will never change the outcome, because it is simply in the nature of the scorpion to sting. BUT every time you've entered, you've walked away with the bag of money.
And therein lies the question...How willing are you to get stung by a scorpion for a little bag of money? How much weight do you place on what others think of you? Why do you assume that your friends and family care more about your image than your well being? Why didn't you listen to your instincts? And what if, when you finally decide to pass the cage by, there's a better opportunity right around the corner?
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