Once upon a time, there was a baby dinosaur living in the forest,
named Zino. One day, Zino was walking along a path by the river, when he suddenly he heard
a tree falling down into the river. He became curious and looked more closely, when he
suddenly noticed a beaver.
Zino went up to the beaver and said: "Good morning Mr. Beaver.
What happened to that tree?"
Beaver replied, "I just cut it down and pushed it into the river."
Zino became even more curious and asked, "but you are so small, how did you push it down into the river?"
Beaver answered, "With my teeth. I simply chew and chew and chew
on the trunk, until the tree falls under its own weight."
Zino was puzzled, so he asked, "But why?"
Beaver said, "Because I want to make a dam in the path of the river. You see Zino, beavers make dams because that is where they live. So I am using these trees to make a home for myself."
This made some sense to Zino, but he had more questions. He asked, "How do you know what to do? How do you go about it? And how did you learn how to build a house?"
Beaver answered, "It is actually very simply, yet it takes a lot
of effort. You see Zino, first I go up and down the river, look at every part of the river
until I find an ideal spot. If I don’t look at the river closely, I will not be able
to build a stable dam. In fact Zino, in any situation it is the same. You must first look
at what you have very closely and find out the most ideal situation before you begin any
project.
"Then I make a plan of the dam in my mind. I think about it very hard. I use my Good Mind and come up with the best design that I can for the dam.
"And then the hard work starts. I start by cutting one tree down after another. I collect smaller branches and pebbles and rocks to fill in the gaps in my dam, and that takes a lot of dedication and effort.
"But you see Zino, hard work is not enough. When I do that work,
I do it with a lot of care and attention. I give it the best quality that I have.
Otherwise, I will end up with a mediocre or an inferior result. I can do that because I
love my job, and every morning I get excited to get up and build my dam. This is how I
build a dam with a very high quality.
"Now, if I do all of these things, if I have found the ideal location and situation, if I have designed my dam the best way I could, if I work hard and with a lot of dedication, and if I put a lot of quality in my work, then I am bound to come up with a great dam, just like I planned it.
"What’s more, because I planned well, my dam will be around for a very long time. So you see Zino, this is how I do it."
Zino thought about this for a short while and then asked, "But
don’t you have any accidents and mishaps? Don’t you make any mistakes?"
Beaver said, "sure I do. I am a beaver after all. Plus there are a lot of things that may happen to the river that I can’t control. If suddenly there is a heavy rainfall, it raises the water level in the river, and that can damage what I have built. I can’t control the rain.
"But you see, that does not matter. Because when something like
that happens, all I do is go through the same process again. I actually look at the new
situation and evaluate all the changes that have taken place. I then come up with a new
design, based on what I have built up to now, and then I continue with my work with the
same dedication and quality, but this time, I work on building the new design. Eventually,
if I focus on this process, I will end up with a dam which matches my new plan and that
too will last for a long time."
Zino
thought this made sense but he had one more question, "Mr. Beaver, all that sounds
good, but your new design is not like the old plan, is it? So you are never going to have
the old plan built."
Beaver answered, "that is very true Zino. But that is not
necessarily a bad thing. You see, when the damage happens as a result of a mishap or a
mistake, I have to think even harder and be more creative. I have to use my Good Mind even
more. And often I come up with new ideas that I did not have before. So in reality, my new
design can actually end up being an improvement over the old plan. Besides, even when that
does not happen, I still can learn from the mistakes that I have made and from what went
wrong. And that is always positive because it makes me grow into a better beaver."
Zino thanked Mr. Beaver and mumbled, "maybe if we dinosaurs did the same, we would not be extinct today."
Ó Shahriar
Shahriari
Vancouver Canada
August 12, 1998
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1998,
Vancouver Canada 1999 - 2001, Los Angeles, CA
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