In the late thirteenth century, Hamelin, a small town in Germany, was infested with rats.
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A mysterious man, called Pied Piper, claiming to be a rat-catcher, offered to rescue the town for a certain sum of money. The legend has it that upon agreeing to the terms, the Pied Piper, using his pipe, lured the rats into a river and had them drown. Now that the town was freed from the infestation, it was time to honour the deal. However, the town members changed their minds and refused to pay. The Pied Piper, bitter and angry, left the town only to return after a few days to avenge the town’s treatment.
The Pied Piper used his pipe once again. This time, it was not to lure the rats but the children, a large number of boys and girls from the town. They followed the Piper into a hill, where some legend says the children and the Piper were never seen again. Other tales that I prefer have it that the town had to pay the Piper handsomely to have their children returned.
Centuries later, we can still witness the Pied Piper.
Although there are several of them now, and they come in different shapes, colours and sizes, they pretty much do the same – luring us far and away.
Look around, and you will see how your attention and focus are being drawn away on things that don’t really matter. The endless scrolling of useless news and headlines lures us into thinking the way they want us to. The time robbers that have been squirrelling away our precious time on mindless online updates.
The less relevant bottomless online pit is not the only culprit. The Pied Pipers exist all around. The negative influencers and energy drainers in our lives. The time-wasters at work. The so-called spiritual or religious leaders often leading us astray. The political oligarchs dividing the world into the lefts and rights. The unhealthy food Pipers seducing us away from a healthy lifestyle. More deeply, the ego, the anger, and the greed stealing the better side of us.
The list is long, and the power to mislead us is stronger than ever. We need to be even stronger to escape following the sound of the Pied Pipers of the New World.
Get back your freedom. Pay the price now. It is worth it.
Thank you for sharing some of your precious time with me each week.
Leave a comment if you liked it.
With gratitude, until next week.
Razak
CommonInterest
C o m m o n. I n t e r e s t. 