An Onlooker

There was a region that had a village and surrounding that village were small groups of farmers, miners and fisherman. The region had a fair leader who wanted nothing more than to see his region prosper and be content.

The winter was only months away. And the harvest of fish has been gathered and prepared by salt and smoke. The farmers had also harvested and were finishing up there grain collection and the milled flour was being bagged. The miners had a few weeks of coal gathering left before the roads into the mountains would be closed for weeks.

The people of the village relied on these materials for there processing of commodities and their own survival, just as, the small outlying groups also relied on the villagers for the purchasing of their raw goods, and their products. So fall was always a time of great activity for both.

This year something had changed. The villagers found trade and investment in a neighboring region. This region had more cultivation of raw materials and therefore always had a surplus. Because of this surplus they sought out the villagers to turn profit. The villagers celebrated this because not only were their needs going to be met early, but the cost of the raw goods was far less than what they had been paying locally.

You see, being in a village gave them more opportunity to explore different avenues as individuals. There was economic, business, law, medicine, sciences, and more specific processing. This type of knowledge base led to a system of education which included skill development like reading and writing, even an appreciation for arts. And for generations this led to a loose society with its own perceptions of individual value.

All the while in the outskirts, the raw material gathering also made developments but were specific to their industry, there was no personal development, and therefore social development was minimal. People had families, worked hard, help their neighbors, raised children to follow in their footsteps. They had no need to explore other means of education because it had not bearing in they survival. And they found appreciation in what the earth provided, and what they could accomplish gave them pride.

When the smaller groups found out that they were no longer able to sell their raw materials to the villagers, they were devastated. Some said violence was the solution, some said look for opportunity in another region, so said begin processing end products themselves. But in each case, what change had brought was a mixture of fear and loathing.

Then the raw materials began to arrive at the village from the other region. The fish were smaller and the transport was done with ice. So the fish themselves still had to be smoked or salted, and they were not fresh any longer. The grain was the grain that was left over from the harvest, and was not full kernel, but the last crop of the season pulled up at the last minute. It also was still in kernels, not processed into flour or bagged. The coal was also not to be desired as it was the edging of the year from mining, and as such was less coal and more stone, having very little burning time. The villagers, angry, made their purchase, and told those they bought the goods from not to return.

Winter hit.

The villagers were aware of the harm they caused the outlying groups. But they were only aware of the harm they created because they had to reconsider them as an alternative to starvation and freezing to death. Had the goods they purchased been of quality, the idea of reconciliation would have never came. The villagers were unable to convince the outlying groups to assist them.

The hard working outlying groups, caring for their neighbors, also had challenges. They had no medicines, and they wanted too much for their raw materials from each other. They also had fewer social skills, and were relatively closed minded, so when the villagers came to ask for renewed partnerships, the outlying peoples mocked them and denied them.

After a winter filled with death and sorrow, spring had a different feeling for the region as a whole. The villagers held the outlying peoples as responsible for crippling their way of life, and the outlying peoples held the villagers responsible for crippling their way of life.

One day a man came to first the outlying people, and the he walked into the village. In both places he gave up his wisdom freely. He said, 'Treat others how you would have yourself be treated.'

No one could suggest otherwise, making this statement truth. The following fall, the region returned to its people, and the fair leader of the region who wanted nothing more than to see his region prosper and be content, was satisfied and had joy. His trip to supply wisdom to his people was a success.