Subj : FidoNews 36:14 [03/09]: Best Of Fidonet
To   : All
From : FidoNews Robot
Date : Mon Apr 08 2019 00:07:36

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                         BEST OF FIDONET
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                       A parable
              By: David Rance <2:252/110.1>

(A 20yo gem, still valid -- Editor's note)

* Area: ENET.SYSOP
* Original message from David Rance to Steven Leeman
* Date: 25 May 99  08:59

You don't see my point, do you? All you folks can talk about is the
technical specifications of all that we are doing.

A parable:

Fred Fidonet is interested in cars. He has a car. He talks about the
car. He knows the technical specification of the car. He spends all
his spare time tinkering with the car and tuning the car. Fred loves
his car and would be completely lost if he had to sell his car.
However he never goes out in the car. Fred has two sons who are every
bit as enthusiatic about the car as Fred is. The trouble is that they
are always arguing about how to make the car work better. In fact
their conversation is always about the technical side of the car, and
sometimes their arguments get quite bitter. Sometimes they can't even
talk to one another because of the bad feeling when they can't get
their own way.

While they are all busy arguing, Fred's wife, Angela, would love to go
out touring, to see some of the countryside and visit friends. After
all, she thought, that's what they got the car for. It should improve
the quality of their lives by enabling them to visit people they
wouldn't otherwise be able to visit. Fred doesn't want to do that.
Fred's world revolves around making the car work better and better.
Yes, he sometimes goes out to visit a car mechanic who will help him
with the car, but he's forgotten all about what his poor wife wants.

After a while, Angela gets SO bored that she decides to accept an
invitation from her neighbour, Ian Internet, to go for a trip in his
car. Ian isn't so much interested in HOW the car works, but loves to
travel and meet people. And Angela enjoys her trip so much that she
accepts further invitations. In the end, Angela (you've guessed it)
decides to leave Fred and go to live with Ian, because he, like
Angela, is so much more interested in meeting people and finds Ian's
attitude to the car so much more sensible. It's not an end in itself,
it helps people to get to where they want to go.

And, do you know, Fred didn't even understand why Angela had left him!
Fred asked his sons how to get Angela to come back. He came to the
conclusion that she would come back if he got a bigger, flashy, car.
So he did. But Angela didn't come back. So Fred thought that an even
bigger, flashier car, would attract Angela back, but he couldn't agree
with his sons as to which car to get.

And all this time Angela is getting more and more hooked on Ian's
lifestyle and is now planning to divorce Fred and marry Ian.

And Fred is STILL wondering what to do to make his car more attractive
to Angela!!! Of course, Fred is quite right to take an interest in how
the car works. But he has missed the point that, however big and
flashy his car is, Angela is interested only it what it can DO to help
her get out and meet people.

Poor Fred! Do you think he will ever get Angela back?

* Any resemblance between the characters above and the readers of this
echo is purely intentional!

Best wishes, David



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