The Sun and the Wind

Rewritten and planned by Babak Kardan

Once, the Sun and the Wind were looking over a beautiful autumn day in the countryside. They saw a young man happily walking along a country road, whistling to himself and enjoying the pleasant surroundings. He was wearing a light jacket, unbuttoned and gently swaying in the light breeze.

The Wind watched the young man for a while. Then he told the Sun, “hey, let’s see which one of us can get that jacket off of the man.”

“OK”, said the Sun, “you try first”.

The Wind started to gently blow across the countryside where the man was walking. At first, it was just a gentle wind. The man noticed it but didn’t react to it. Then, the wind started to blow harder and harder.

The breeze would blow across the man’s path. The man just shrugged a bit and started to walk a little faster. The wind picked up more, and by now it was blowing hard against the man, hoping to pull off the jacket from the man. But the harder the wind blew, the more tightly the man would wrap the jacket around himself, to protect him against the wind. Eventually the man buttoned up the jacket, and pulled up the collar, too.

By now the wind had turned into a storm. It slashed onto the man with such force that it threw the man down, trying to tear the jacket off of him. But the man, rolling on the ground, held on to his jacket with an even greater grip, for protection.

The Wind realized it could not take the jacket off of the man. So it finally gave up. “I give up”, said the wind to the Sun. The wind died down, and everything returned to normal. The man got u, brushed off the dirt from his clothes, regained his composure, and started to continue his walk along the country road.

Now it was the Sun’s turn. The Sun looked at the man, and smiled. He started to shine happily onto the countryside, silently. As the man walked, he noticed it was sunny and bright. It was also getting a little hot. He gently loosened his jacket collar from around his neck.

The Sun, however, didn’t react to this. He just smiled, happily, and just shone, stronger and stronger onto the man. As the man walked, he noticed it was getting more and more hot. He started to perspire. So he slowly unbuttoned his jacket. It was still becoming more hot, and slowly the man wiped the perspiration from his face. The Sun kept on smiling and shining happily and more and more intensely on the man.

Finally, the man felt so hot that he stopped on the road, and took off his jacket,

swinging it over his shoulder, while he started to continue his walk down the road.

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Questions:

1. Compare the way the Wind tried to take off the man’s jacket to the way the Sun tried to. How are they different?

2. What does the Wind represent to you? What does the Sun represent to you?

3. What does this story teach us about how we should relate to others in our lives?

4. Would you rather relate to people and the world around you like the Sun or like the Wind? Explain your answer in full sentences.