While at a leadership training today, I heard a story teller, Carol, tell a series of stories. One I found to be of quite thought provoking. The virtue of a good story is not just entertainment but to also maybe broaden a listener’s perspective on other topics outside of the story.

The story told of a village that lived near a high cliff where many people had been killed.

The villagers debated if they needed to spend money building a fence on the cliff to prevent people from falling off the cliff or to have an ambulance service down in the valley to take care of people after they fell.

It was finally decided to pay money for the ambulance service.

One of the reasons I liked the story is it gave me a new perspective on a modern issue today. Why are so many US citizens so intent to have a fence built on the southern border to prevent illegal alien from crossing rather than taking care of the new arrivals after they’ve come in.

With this story I compared illegally crossing the border to the fence on the cliff. It would be better to prevent innocents from falling over the cliff. Some type of border defense would discourage illegals from paying drug cartels to get across the border where children are abused and families are financially obligated to the crime lords. It could also discourage the stealing of identities to create a false persona for illegals to live within the United States. Finally illegals would not have to live lives of secrecy. An alternative is lawful immigration into the US where new citizens join their new country freely and fairly.

The story could be used to support other concepts as well but this was one that first interpretation that came to mind for me.