An old story was once told about a man that had a wife, a son, a daughter, a dog, a cat and a mouse. And they all lived in a nice farm house. The man planted a turnip, and it grew very big and ripe. The time came for it to be pulled up from the ground. The man took hold of the turnip and pulled, and pulled, but he could not pull up the enormous turnip. So he called to his wife. He said, "Honey, could you please come and help me pull up the enormous turnip?" So the wife took hold of the man, and the man took hold of the turnip, and they pulled, and they pulled, and they pulled, but they couldn't pull up the enormous turnip. So the wife called to her son. She said, "Son, could you please come and help me pull up the enormous turnip?" And so the boy took hold of the woman, and the woman took hold of the man, and the man took hold of the turnip, and they pulled, and they pulled, and they pulled, but they couldn't pull up the enormous turnip. So the boy called to the girl. He said, "Sister, could you please come and help me pull up the enormous turnip?"
So the girl took hold of the boy, and the boy took hold of the woman, and the woman took hold of the man, and the man took hold of the turnip and they pulled and they pulled and they pulled, but they could not pull up the enormous turnip. So the girl called to the dog. She said, "Dog, could you please come and help pull up the enormous turnip?" So the dog took hold of the girl; the girl took hold of the boy; the boy took hold of the woman; the woman took hold of the man, and they pulled, and they pulled, and they pulled, but they could not pull up the enormous turnip. So the dog called to the cat. He said, "Cat, could you please come help pull up the enormous turnip?" So the cat took hold of the dog; the dog took hold of the girl; the girl took hold of the woman; the woman took hold of the man; the man took hold of the turnip, and they pulled, and they pulled, and they pulled, but they could not pull up the enormous turnip. So the cat called to the mouse. He said, "Mouse, could you please come help us pull up the enormous turnip?" So the mouse took hold of the cat; the cat took hold of the dog; the dog took hold of the girl; the girl took hold of the boy; the boy took hold of the woman; the woman took hold of the man; the man took hold of the turnip, and they pulled, and they pulled, and they pulled, and they pulled up the enormous turnip!
The story is about team work. It teaches us three lessons. The first lesson is cohabitation. The man had a family. He had a wife, a son, a daughter, a dog and a cat. He did not live all by himself in some deserted place. He did not isolate himself from others. He was not a loner. He lived with a robust family, and was a social part of it. Rugged individualism, a characteristic of our society, does not mean isolation. We all belong to families, and clans, and villages, and communities, and we should value the interpersonal relationships that we form with the people that we live in community with. This is very important. Without community, we have no consolation for our troubles. Without community, we are nameless folk that do not matter. Without community we might as well be dead and rotting but no one would know because there would be no one around to care or to know. We should value community. A wise person once said that community in the form of family and friends are not burdens to be endured but privileges to be grateful for. This is the first lesson to be learned from the story - our need to value community.
A second lesson to be learned from the story is team work. We cannot do stuff alone. We cohabit in this world to help one another. Just imagine for example if we had to make everything we ever used or needed by ourselves, without the help of others; imagine that we had to make everything from scratch. That would be arduous. So for example, we wanted to use a broom, and we first had to go look for palm fronds and then make the broom before starting to sweep; or we wanted to brush our hair, and we first went and bought plastic, and the machine and then made a brush before brushing our hair; or we needed a paper on which to write, and we went first and cut down some trees; manufactured the machine with which to make the papers from the trees; actually made the paper; then manufactured the machine and the process for making the pen; actually made the pen; invented and made ink; filled the pen with ink; and then began to write, after having made all these. Silly! As human society becomes increasingly sophisticated, we rely more and more on others and the work they do to complement our own efforts and supply us with various materials with which to organize our own lives and make our own tasks far more easier that would have been were they not present to help us with their skills and tasks.
A third lesson we learn is that we should get along and not be enemies with anyone. In the story, everyone worked together, and not against each other - that was how they were able to get the enormous turnip out of the ground. Ordinarily, dogs and cats are enemies; cats and mice are enemies as well; but in this story they cooperated with one another and so were able to contribute to the pulling up of the turnip. In the same way, we cannot get round to working together with others if we are in enmity with them. We cannot be co-participators with others if we do not put aside any differences we might have and concentrate on being a participatory community with them. We must be willing to stop fighting or skirmishing or being uncooperative with others so that we can move on with the task of building our lives, our families and our communities. We must be willing to get along with everyone we meet. We must not keep enemies or hold grudges against other people. Enmity or holding of grudges does not augur well for anyone in the long run.
All in all, we have seen the story of the enormous turnip; how a family consisting of a man, a woman, a boy, a girl, a dog, a cat, and a mouse were able to pull up an enormous turnip because they worked together, all of them with no exception. The enormous turnip may represent any activity in our life, especially one that is difficult and we cannot do alone. Indeed, we cannot actually do most activities from scratch all by ourselves or manufacture all the tools and bits we need to do anything. As society grows and develops, we rely more and more on others to do anything. We live in communities of families, clans and societies. We also need to participate in functional groups with other people to be able to accomplish otherwise impossible tasks. To do this, we have to value the skills and abilities of other people and relate nicely with them. We also need to be at peace with everyone; not hold grudges, and endeavor to build friendships and cordial relations so that we do not focus on tearing one another down, but on building them and our communities up.
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