Man Vs Scorpion

A man was traveling in a desert area. He stopped to rest near an oasis. He sat on the hot sand near the water under a date palm tree. He was hot and tired and the tall date palms offered no shade at all. He noticed a scorpion scurrying along near the water. It slipped and fell into the water. The traveler jumped up and picked the scorpion out of the water in an endeavour to save it from drowning. The scorpion attacked the man’s hand with its tail and gave a very nasty sting. The man felt a sharp pain and he dropped the scorpion on the sand.

A minute later, the scorpion rushed into the water again. Again the man picked it up and took it out of the water. The scorpion stung him again. This happened five times. Another man sitting at a distance asked the traveler, “My friend, that stinger has stung you so hard five times, yet you continue to pull it out of the water. Why are you putting yourself to so much pain? It’s just a mere animal. Why don’t you just let it die?”

The man replied, “It’s the basic nature of the scorpion to sting any one that comes near it, so it is doing just what nature taught it to do. My inherent nature is to be of service to others. This creature knows not that it can drown in the water. So, I am trying to prevent it from entering it.” “But,” argued the onlooker “look what it’s done to your hand!”

“If a mere animal, does not waver from its basic nature, how can I, a human being, who is the most superior being in all of God’s creation, defer from doing what I am supposed to? It is doing what it thinks is right. I am doing what I think is right. A small amount of pain can not dissuade me from doing my duty.”