Quite naturally he started screaming to the other man. “Help! Get in here and help me save them!” The other man, however, started walking upstream.

For every one that the first man saved, eight passed him. The first man screamed out “I can’t grab all of these babies alone! Where are you going?”

The second man called back, “I’m going upstream to stop the person who is throwing all of these babies in the river.”

Moral: Dealing with the source of the problem will have a greater impact, and have greater success in actually solving the problem.

People who share a common direction and sense of community can get where they are going more quickly and easily because they are traveling on the thrust of one another.

When a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to go it alone, and quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird in front.

If we have as much sense as a goose, we will stay in formation with those people who are headed the same way we are.

When the head goose gets tired, it rotates back in the wing and another goose flies point.

It is sensible to take turns doing demanding jobs, whether with people or with geese flying south.

Geese honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.

What messages do we give when we honk from behind?

Finally … and this is important … when a goose gets sick or is wounded by gunshot, and falls out of formation, two other geese fall out with that goose and follow it down to lend help and protection. They stay with the fallen goose until it is able to fly or until it dies, and only then do they launch out on their own, or with another formation to catch up with their group.

If we have the sense of a goose, we will stand by each other like that.

–Author Unknown

Found at this URL: http://friedsocialworker.com/burnoutbusters.htm (If you know who wrote this, please contact us so that we can give credit.)

The people said something would have to be done
but their projects did not at all tally.
Some said, “put a fence around the edge of the cliff,”
others, “an ambulance down in the valley.”

The lament of the crowd was profound and loud
as their hearts overflowed with pity.
But the ambulance carried the cry of the day
as it spread to the neighboring cities.
So a collection was made to accumulate aid
and dwellers in highway and alley,
gave dollars and cents not to furnish a fence,
but an ambulance down in the valley.

For the cliff is alright if you’re careful they said,
and if folks ever slip and are falling;
it’s not the slipping and falling that hurts them
so much as the shock down below when they’re stopping.

And so for years as these mishaps occurred
quick forth would the rescuers sally,
to pick up the victims who fell from the cliff
with the ambulance down in the valley.

Said one in his plea, it’s a marvel to me
that you’d give so much greater attention
to repairing results than to curing the cause, why
you’d much better aim at prevention.
For the mischief of course should be stopped at its source;
come friends and neighbors let us rally.
It makes far better sense to rely on a fence
than an ambulance down in the valley.

He’s wrong in his head the majority said.
He would end all our earnest endeavors.
He’s the kind of a man that would shrink his responsible work,
but we will support it forever.
Aren’t we picking up all just as fast as they fall,
and giving them care liberally.
Why a superfluous fence is of no consequence,
if the ambulance works in the valley.

Now this story seems queer as I’ve given it here,
but things oft occur which are stranger.
More humane we assert to repair the hurt,
than the plan of removing the danger.
The best possible course would be to safeguard the source,
and to attend to things rationally.
Yes, build up the fence and let us dispense
with this ambulance down in the valley.

Author: Unknown