Recently one of my teachers told me an insightful story. Back in the old Soviet Union, party loyalty was a major testing point. The local party boss went to a farmer and asked him, "if you had 100 cows, would you consider them to be collective assets?" The farmer replied, "of course. I despise capitalism and celebrate our communist system." The party boss asked, "if you had 50 horses, would you consider them to be collective assets?" The farmer replied, "of course. I believe our founders had a great plan and a great vision and I support it." The party boss asked, "if you had 5 chickens, would you consider them to be collective assets?" There was a long silence. The party boss asked, "what's the problem? You have already considered 100 cows and 50 horses to be collective assets." The farmer replied, "well, I have 5 chickens."
Why does this story make us smile? Isn't it that we relate to the farmer? Don't we have a little place "of our own"? Don't we all have those little "guilty pleasures" that give us a feeling that something is ours? Even more, don't we all relate to the sense that the universe and government and powers are going to do what they're going to do? Isn't it amazing how easy it is to do the big things, but not the little ones?
