Two boulders: an allegory

Once there were two boulders on opposite sides of the earth.

They were firmly embedded. Sometimes they dreamed about what it might be like to feel movement but they were safe in their dreaming because they knew nothing could ever loose them.

Then one day the earth shook and they began to roll.

The two boulders rolled, on two seemingly different paths, toward each other. Eventually the two boulders met.

“Hey, you’re in my way!”

“No, you’re in MY way!”

The two boulders faced off, unable to move. They couldn’t go back, and they couldn’t go forward. So they sat there at an impasse, occasionally yelling at one another to move, but there was no passing lane. They argued in futility, demanding the other cede, each believing their way was the only logical and therefore right way.

Days, weeks, months, years, decades passed. Both became entrenched in their positions, each certain that they alone were in the right demanding the other move.

At last, they fell asleep.

When they awoke, they found themselves in the middle of a work zone. There were workers in hard hats all around.

They were widening the path. Adding bridges over. Digging tunnels under.

Once the path was expanded, the two boulders had a new set of options to consider.

So entrenched had they become in their unmovable positions they hadn’t contemplated what they would do if ever there were more than one choice.

Now they had options. They could remain entrenched, continue on their original route, or turn around and go back where they came from.

All the while, these newly-widened path allowed new travelers to simply go around them, which they did.

But the boulders couldn’t decide. So there they sat, and still sit today. Someone erected a plaque, a monument to indecision and immovability.

But no matter.

Others who found themselves on the same path discovered the solution was not through but around, under, or over. Their solutions, over time, became ever more creative and brilliant. It was a wonder.

The two boulders became boxed in by their refusal to accept any way but their own.

And the world moved on around them.