There was a sugar anthill in which numerous ants lived. Each of them was leading a very happy life and, being in a sugar anthill, everything was sweet in their lives.
One day, an ant from this colony moved out and met another ant. As they started talking, the ant from the sugar anthill (let’s call it the sugar ant) was surprised to hear the sad tale of the other ant.
It so happened that the other ant lived in a salt anthill (let’s call it the salt ant). The salt ant was disappointed with salt all around. She exclaimed, ‘This life is very salty.’ She had never tasted sugar.
Hearing this, the sugar ant replied, ‘What’s wrong? Life is so beautiful and full of sweetness all around.’
This was difficult for the salt ant to digest. She responded, ‘Impossible!’
‘Come with me, I shall show you,’ so saying, the sugar ant led the salt ant to her colony at the sugar anthill. Once there, the sugar ant asked, ‘Now tell me, isn’t life sweet?’
The salt ant tasted the sugar and responded, ‘What? This is salty, too!’
The sugar ant coaxed the salt ant to try once again. The salt ant did try but gave the same response. It was difficult for the sugar ant to understand. She decided to take the salt ant to the Mother sugar ant to resolve the issue. The Mother sugar ant was also perplexed when she heard the sugar ant’s predicament.
‘How could it be?’ she wondered.
In an attempt to unravel the mystery, the Mother sugar ant asked the salt ant to take a bite of sugar and asked her to respond.
‘Salty,’ the salt ant asserted.
The Mother sugar ant thought for a while. Then she smiled and her eyes brightened like those of a child who had suddenly spotted his mother in a group of strangers.
She told the salt ant to take another bite of the sugar and the salt ant obediently did so. As the salt ant opened her mouth to consume the sugar, the Mother sugar ant said, ‘Stop! Wait for a moment. Let me see your mouth.’”
The Mother sugar ant peeped into the mouth of the salt ant and exclaimed, ‘There you are! A piece of salt is already there in your mouth. How will anything taste any different but salty?’
As professionals, many a time we may commence our work with presumptions and / or prejudices which may influence our actions and decisions. They may sour our results and relations. However, professional scepticism should not translate into distrust, cynicism and suspicion. Further, it would be dangerous to carry such scepticism into our personal lives.
Would it not be wise to always begin with the question – ‘Have I removed the piece of salt (in the form of prejudices, etc.) before I set out to see the world soaked in sugar?’
