"The Town's Spring"

Once upon a time, a long time ago, there was a town that sat along a natural spring. The town was a nice place to live and its natural spring made it beautiful. A path was created along the spring so that the people could enjoy the view of the spring with a stroll, a bike ride or a jog. Everyone loved their town and everyone enjoyed the spring. Of course, everyone also knew that the spring was poisonous. Decades ago the town's founding father's recognized that even animals did not drink from the spring and when one of them drank it to find out why, he soon grew very sick. Had he drunk more, he most certainly would have died. Nevertheless, what the spring lacked in function it more than made up for in beauty.

However, one summer grew hot. It was hotter and dryer than even the oldest citizen of the town could ever recall. It was a drought like none other. Farmer's fields shriveled up, the ground was parched and cracked and worst of all their drinking wells were quickly growing shallow. It was a desperate situation. People were hungry....people were thirsty...everyone wondered what they should do...how would they survive?

Oddly enough, the spring, still ran deep and cold...The local Mayor said, "It was a reminder that this too shall pass."

As it normally happens at times like these, leaders emerge form the background to the foreground. In this town, two well-respected men came to the town meeting each with a different plan.

The first man stood and said, "Fellow citizens these are difficult times. The drought is hot, long and the end seems to be far off. I suggest we all pull our resources. We collect our water and ration it. Instead of every farmer trying to save his own farm, we count them all a loss, but one and from its land have food for our families. The times are tough but together we can get through it."

The town people nodded their heads in agreement. "That makes sense," they said, "Together we can get through this drought."

Yet, one man disagreed. He stood and said, "My friend is right. The times are hard. The drought is hot, long and the end seems far off. But we are overlooking the most obvious solution. The spring. The spring has plenty of water to fill our wells and irrigate our farms. Even in this drought our spring has proven faithful. Let's turn to the spring and let it bring to our town all that we have lost."

The other man was quick to respond, "What are you saying? This is crazy. The spring is poison. Even animals know better than to run to it to quench their thirst. Not even grass survives where the spring flows. It is a beautiful, but it is deadly. Have we forgotten the lesson of our grandfathers?"

The other man rebutted, "Fellow citizens. Now is no time to hearken back to the days of superstition. Let's be realistic. Without the water we are all going to die any way, at least this water can get us through. If we are careful and we monitor how much we drink, any damage will be far outweighed by the benefits." And to make the point, the man drank a small glass of the spring water himself.

The towns people had quite a discussion, but in the end they believed the best option was to drink from the spring. The man who voiced the idea became the local expert. He created charts and measurements for how much a person could drink based upon their weight and size. And so, in the hot, dry drought, the people found a cool, refreshing supply. The truth was the water tasted good. People laughed and said, "Why did we go so long without drinking from our beautiful spring?" And so it seemed all was well.

Until about a month later a cry broke forth in the midnight sky. A cry of anguish. A cry of a mother whose little boy had died. "Its the water she cried...the spring killed my boy..."

The people were sorry for her loss, but no one could believe that the spring had killed her boy and if it had then it was her fault for the good man with the idea carefully prescribed how much was too much.

But then another grew sick and then another and then another until one after another the good people of this good town by this beautiful spring watched the spring prove not to be their savior but their murderer.

Disillusioned, heart broken and physically weak, the people of the town came to the man with the other idea and said, "You were right. The water is poison. The end did not justify the means. Tell, us friend, is it too late, can we turn back."

The man with the other idea, looked down. his eyes filled with tears. Though he wanted to give the people good news, he had none. It was too late to pull their resources for everyone but him had filled their wells with the poisonous spring water and everyone but him had water their fields with it. So, what they had to offer was poison and what he had to offer was not enough.

Now many years later, there is a beautiful spring where once sat a nice little town.