Kings and Kingdoms

There was a region that was divided into four kingdoms.

The first king was a tyrant. He spent most of his time and resources on enforcing his authority. The people obeyed but they suffered because there was little left over to be used to build roads, schools or hospitals. This kingdom became very poor.

The second king was benevolent. He did not spend any time or resources enforcing his authority. Instead, he spent most of his time and resources building roads and schools and hospitals. Unfortunately, the people took him for granted. They did not obey him because he did not enforce himself. So the only schools built were the ones the king built and the only hospitals again were the ones the king built. Meanwhile the people caused themselves a lot of trouble. They were so busy having fun at the kings expense that they got drunk and vandalized the very schools and hospitals the king provided. This kingdom became poor.

The third king was a wise king. He invested most of his time and resources directly into his people. This king conducted campaigns to inspire the people and ennoble the people. The people were so inspired by this king that the people built roads and schools and hospitals. The people were so inspired by this king that the people obeyed his laws. The people even began to imitate this king as they began to invest in each other. This kingdom became very rich.

The fourth king started out imitating the first two kings but then had a change of heart and started imitating the third king. This king became wise and did right by his kingdom. However, it took time for the people to accept the change in this king. For a very long time, the people refused to obey this king and refused to be inspired by him. This was very frustrating to the king who was frequently so stressed that he wanted to abdicate the throne and abandon his people. But the king endured and the people eventually turned around and accepted this king as their king. Then this kingdom began to prosper.

This is a parable about the role of a man (a king) and his family (the people). This parable is both about how a man should be toward his family and about how a family should be toward the man.