Once there were 5 specially decorated cookies, among many others more plain, in a beautiful, delicate cookie jar. The 5 more ornate cookies each had a unique color: blue, red, green, yellow, and one cookie with three colors – blue, red, and white. While the cookies were each fine in their own way, they each had flaws:
The blue cookie had been in the freezer for 15 years and had freezer-burn and taste. While colorful, it had been on the tray at a lot of parties. Many famous people had become familiar with the red cookie, and wanted to add it to their collection. They didn’t care about the other cookies in the wonderful cookie jar. Once they acquired the red cookie, they planned to use it as leverage to get the whole cookie jar, sell the cookies they could profit from, and throw the others away, including the jar.
The red cookie was decorated with a bold, brash style that attracted a lot of attention. But the cookie itself had an offensive odor that could be smelled when anyone got close enough to it. And the special decorations it had, tended to leech out onto other plainer cookies (ruining them), along with the odor. Much like the red cookie, the blue cookie was coveted by certain people who wanted to capture its fame and twist it to their own self-serving purposes. But one day when its colors were all leeched out, they planned to throw the blue cookie out. This is especially sad, because this cookie had often been shown off at churches, and many loved it.
The green cookie didn’t use eggs in its ingredients, so it tended to barely hold together. Because of this, it came with a special 10-sided retainer that kept other cookies from damaging it, and its baker used organic frosting to keep it from crumbling. While environmentally and PETA friendly, the baker who made the green cookie continually looked for new angles to promote it, making the green cookie lack artistic centricity.
The yellow cookie was a newer cookie made by the same baker who made the blue cookie. To make it stand out and grab attention from the other cookies, it was made with ingredients and decorations that were attractive, but were toxic. On contact, those touching the yellow cookie while admiring it would begin to exhibit reckless, endangering behaviors. Younger people who got to touch the yellow cookie liked those dangerous feelings…
The blue/red/white cookie was simply decorated, with a focus more on its use to mechanically integrate with the delicate design of the cookie jar, stabilizing and strengthening the jar’s fragile structure so it could hold up over time and transport all the cookies – colorful and plain – safely to all the cookie shows. This cookie was made using a very old recipe from the time when the jar itself was made. The ingredients were healthy and wholesome – not faddish and experimental. Likewise, the blue/red/white cookie’s baker had first-hand experience with the risks of other cookie recipes, and with great wisdom carefully crafted this one. This cookie was appreciated by all the bakers of other cookies, yet they pursued their own cookie designs, which did not strengthen the cookie jar.
One day, a big party was held – all the bakers and many guests were invited! The owner of the wonderful cookie jar brought it out with all the colorful cookies in it for his guests to admire. As the jar was passed from guest to guest, they each assessed what the grandest cookies in the jar were. Many of the guests were younger, not paying attention to the jar’s fragility, and not respecting the critical role the blue/red/white cookie had in keeping all the cookies safe in the jar. These young guests focused instead on the colorful, bold, brash, attractive feature-cookies being promoted by the loud rich bakers who promoted them. Most guests didn’t notice that the jar was about to break, and all the cookies would be harmed.
If the cookies were the candidates and party platforms up for election this voting season, which would you vote for?