Anecdote

Many of the lessons I comprehend best, have a small story attached to them.  Parables, were short and simple stories to teach moral or spiritual lessons.  Anecdotes are short stories meant to amuse, disclose the truth or provide a cautionary tale. 

I'm paraphrasing this one from the WSJ, but I thought it was a worthy reminder:

Students at Oxford University protested in the Quad, refusing to leave until the endowment divested all of it's shares in Shell and BP, and now.  The bursar made a counter offer: "I am not able to arrange any divestment at such short notice but I can arrange for gas central heating to be turned off with immediate effect.  Please let me know if you support this proposal."

The angry students thought the bursar was being flippant. It's January, it would be borderline dangerous to shut off central heating."  The bursar's response: "you're right, I am being provocative but I am provoking some clear thinking, I hope.  It is all too easy to request others to do things that carry no personal cost to yourself.  The question is whether you and others are prepared to make personal sacrifices to achieve the goals of environmental improvement (which I support as a goal)."