A parable

Once there was a village without a well. Their stream had dried up and a man from a village near the river sold water to the villagers. Some of the villagers could afford barrels to catch the rainwater, and so they did not need to buy water as often. The mayor of the village decided to build a water tower in the commons to catch rainwater so that everyone could have access to water and not have to rely on the water seller, who played favorites and would not sell water to certain parts of town where the slopes of the mountain were steep and made delivery more costly and difficult. The mayor and council passed a law that the water seller could not play favorites anymore, because it was necessary for the health of the village for all people to have water.

Everyone in the village was required to help pay for this tower to help those without water, just as they were required to help build the roads and pay for the firemen and police. The people with barrels of their own didn’t want to pay. They didn’t like the mayor and they were friends with the water seller, who was unhappy about the competition from the water tower. The people against the tower fired their shotguns at it as it was being built, and the cooper could hardly keep up with the repairs as he tried to fulfill his contract with the village.

Finally the water tower was finished and there was a huge rainstorm. The tower sprung leaks all over and not much water was left for the people of the village. The cooper began making repairs to the barrel, but the attacks continued.

The villagers, including the ones who never came down from the mountaintop to see what had happened, blamed the mayor, the council and the cooper.

The end.