| Tail of the teaching Elephant
Sometimes we need to think about how things come across from the other persons perspective, before you blast me saying something like I was making "suttle jabs" at someone, think about it, ask me about it in private, and mabye realize that I wasent. Im no literary wizard, and sometimes I choose words poorly, but dont mistake that for malicious intent...
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Once upon a time, in a university far away, there was a wacky science instructor who longed to introduce her students to the teaching elephant. She knew this was a Herculean task, because the teaching elephant was a large, amorphous, and unpredictable beast. After many semesters of failed attempts, she decided she would simply have to bring a real, live teaching elephant to class. Because it was so large and unpredictable that seemed impossible. However, just before the beginning of a new semester, she had an idea. “Aha ha,” she said. “If I can’t bring a teaching elephant to class, I’ll bring my students to the teaching elephant.” and so she began to plan for the first day of class.
Now the wacky science instructor knew that meeting a teaching elephant for the first time can be a bewildering, even a troubling, experience. As she also wanted to show her students how important the senses are to learning, she gave her students blindfolds and had them cover their eyes. She then selected the six wisest students and placed each in front of a different part of the elephant. Each student was asked to use their sense of touch to explore the elephant and to describe it to their classmates.
The first blindfolded student ran her fingers along the tail and said, “Ah, a teaching elephant must be a small snake.” The next, who touched the trunk of the elephant, said, “No it is a very big snake.” The third student had hold of an ear and said, “You are both wrong. It has wings like an enormous bat!” The fourth wise student attempted to encircle the elephant’s belly with his arms, exclaiming, “No, no, it must be a horse with great girth!” The fifth student placed her hand on the elephant’s broad forehead and said, “We are all deceived. This is no animal but a wall!” “Now we’re getting somewhere,” shouted the sixth student who was feeling the thick leg. “But this object must be a tree.” Some versions of this tale end with the students throwing their books at each other; another has the students beating their teacher senseless. But there is also an ending which goes like this . . . .
The blindfolded students became so puzzled by their differing experiences; they were convinced their instructor had tricked them. To test this hypothesis, each student kept his or her hand on the part they had first touched, and maneuvered their other hand along the elephant’s body until it met the hand of another student. By doing this, the blindfolded students discovered that although each part of the teaching elephant was different, together they did form a real living creature. And although the wise students were still unable to behold the complete shape of the teaching elephant, they agree that it was a marvelous beast indeed. | 
09-29-2005
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