Cogito, Ergo Sumana for 2005 December 19 (entry 0)

# 19 Dec 2005, 06:30AM: Social Mobility, Greed, and Uncomfortable Timeliness: The power was out for about twelve hours yesterday. Seth - thanks for looking up outage information on my behalf.

While I was lighting candles (do Jewish families ever use menorahs as regular candelabras?), other Bay Area residents were reading my column about the weaver, the barber, and the eight jars of gold.

I could tell a hundred different stories about the weaver, in which his wife killed herself, or he moved to the city altogether, or he performed an extraordinary prayer and Fate rewarded him, telling him that it had all been a test. Based on those different descriptions of what happened to the weaver, I could waggle my finger at the children and say, "Be careful what you wish for," or "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush," or "Keep your nose to the grindstone," or "God helps those who help themselves."

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