My Father told me this joke the other day:
Are we stubborn mules, slow to act unless we know others are joining in?A businessman is driving his sportscar through the farm country of the west. He looses control, runs off the road, and gets the car stuck in the mud. A farmer comes out to help him, and offers to use his mule, Dave, to pull the car from the mud. The businessman looks skeptical, but agrees. The farmer hooks up the mule and calls out,
"Let's go Fred and Frank! Yah-Yah, Susan and Mary! Pull Dave and Myron!"
And soon the car is free. The businessman looks on in amazement, and says,
"It's is amazing that such a small mule, can move such a heavy car; but why did you you call out so many names, there is only one mule?"
The farmer shakes his head, he looks down lovingly at the mule and says,
"Well, Dave here is nearly blind, but he doesn't mind working hard when he thinks others are working hard too."
If we percieve that no one is working, are we apt not to work ourselves?
Is perception all a matter of direction/instruction?