Dodge

A father was out with a giant chipper feeding it brush and cuttings. The small stuff slipped down between the cogs and was ground down.  The large stuff got caught between the cogs and was ground down.  But one straight piece around the thickness of a finger bounced off the cogs, bounced around for a bit, and then went hurtling out the other side like a javelin.

The dad was hugely delighted.  He grabbed another little limb about the same size and tossed it in.  It bounced and was hurled.  Wow!  Again!

His son was out playing in the field and when he heard his dad laughing with glee came running.  Unfortunately he came running straight down the path that the sticks were hurled.

The dad yelled, “Out! Out!  No!  The sticks!” and suddenly the boy realized what was coming.  He turned ashen, span around, and started running away.

“No!” his dad yelled, “run to the side, to the side!”  By some father-son chemistry or through a long habit of obedience the son, even in the crisis, was able to understand his father and turned to the side.  He had only gone a step or two sideways when a stick came hurtling through the space where he had been.

Moral: It can better to dodge than to flee.