posted on December 7, 2003 11:17:35 PM new
A young man named John received a parrot as a gift. The parrot had a bad
attitude and an even worse vocabulary. Every word out of the bird's mouth was
rude, obnoxious and laced with profanity. John tried and tried to change the
bird's attitude by consistently saying only polite words, playing soft music and
anything else he could think of to "clean up" the bird's vocabulary.
Finally, John was fed up and he yelled at the parrot. The parrot yelled back.
John shook the parrot and the parrot got angrier and even ruder.
John, in desperation, threw up his hand, grabbed the bird and put him in the
freezer. For a few minutes the parrot squawked and kicked and screamed. Then
suddenly there was total quiet. Not a peep was heard for over a minute. Fearing
that he'd hurt the parrot, John quickly opened the door to the freezer. The
parrot calmly stepped out onto John's outstretched arms and said "I believe I
may have offended you with my rude language and actions. I'm sincerely
remorseful for my inappropriate transgressions and I fully intend to do
everything I can to correct my rude and unforgivable behavior."
John was stunned at the change in the bird's attitude. As he was about to ask
the parrot what had made such a dramatic change in his behavior, the bird
continued, "May I ask what the turkey did?"
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"In order to avoid poverty, just do three things: finish high school, marry before having a child, and don't have that child until you're at least 20 years old. Only 8% of people who do all three of these things wind up poor, but a staggering 79% of those who fail to do them wind up in poverty." ~William Galston
