It seems to be Nasrudin season for me. I was recently musing on the story of Nasrudin and Chickpeas. I attended a history discussion about the American colonists and how it is so very important to keep in the forefront of one's thinking that the American colonies could never have been successful had it not been for the abuse and murder of the Native Americans and the African and African-American slaves.
Nasrudin, you see, lives on a diet of chickpeas (garbanzo beans) and water. Very bland, although healthy and nutritious. He wears simple clothing made from unrefined fabrics. His home, while comfortable, is plain.
He is invited to dine at the home of a wealthy man who dresses in the most brilliant finery, eats the most luscious, expensive foods and lives, as you may imagine, in a fabulous home. This man has earned all this luxury by flattering and being subservient to the Emperor.
There are many guests, and this wealthy man can't help but point out to all the difference between his lifestyle and that of Nasrudin. So much for the rewards of being wise, of being hodja - "Nasrudin, you know, that if you would simply do as I do and subserve yourself to the Emperor, flatter him at all times and make yourself low to him, you, too, could live a life of luxury as I do. There would be no more meals of chickpeas and water." The guests all nod in agreement and wish they, too, might have this life.
Nasrudin eats quietly for a moment, 'If you, too, were to live on a diet of chickpeas and water, then there would be no need for you to subserve yourself to, and be a flatterer of, the Emperor."
I see that a genuine study of American Colonial times must tell all the truth, that without the heavy price of lives, blood and even souls, this country probably wouldn't have become the nation it became. What price, the soul of a nation?
Today, I ask myself - 'what cost, my soul?'
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