A Fool Is A Wiseman (Who just missed the bus)
‘Mad’ Max was designated as the biggest fool who ever lived in a town with a curious name Pie-In-The-Sky. As soon as he learned to assemble a refrigerator he knew he wanted to sell one. So he took off to the North Pole. But the Inuit didn’t buy a single one and he died a very poor man. All that he left behind was some ice boxes and a technical manual.
On the other hand Dr. Faustus having made a pact with the devil became the most celebrated scholar who knew everything that went under the Sun, which passed for knowledge. How the crowned heads and scholars alike feted him! Then came the computers that made him redundant. He died in grief. He said that a machine beat him. Yes.
The world went a-changing! Then came a thaw and ice melted. The polar caps vanished as an icicle in a furnace. The people in Nunavut learnt to live with the climate changes. Then someone found the papers of ‘Mad’ Max and it was a discovery that electrified the whole region. They learnt to make fridges themselves and control their houses to the right temperature. Who contributed to the welfare of the world more? A fool or a scholar?
(selected from Sufficient Unto This Day: Introduction p.11-12 http://www.lulu.com/content/416344)
benny
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