Mophead and Broomsticks
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| St Martin, "Saint of the Broom" |
On one end of a large school cafeteria, somewhere in the middle of everywhere, there was a young feller finishing his lunch, who became inspired to pick up a broom.
He did this, because every day, at the end of lunch, the floor needed to be cleaned. Serving so many meals had an impact on the floor of the feeding hall - such that it actually needed to be cleaned after every mealtime gathering.
Recognizing this need, he picked up the broom, and happily, he swept.
As he did so, a few others around him began to take notice. 'That looks really nice', they thought. 'How much better to enjoy our meals with a clean floor, than a dirty one.'
Lo, before long there was a contingent of sweepers, each picking up their brooms after lunch, joyfully doing the diligence of sweeping the floor clean. Enthusiastically, they made themselves shirts, which they wore when they embarked on their sweeping journey, which said "Broomsticks of Brotherhood - Bliss through sweeping" with the image of a broom on it.
Meanwhile, on the opposite side of that same cafeteria, there was another young feller, unaware of the broomstick brothers and their sweeping activities. As he sat finishing his lunch one day, he shared a similar thought. "This floor really needs to be cleaned after lunch." So, he looked around, and spotted a mop station in the corner. With inspiration and gusto, he filled his mop bucket with water, grabbed the mop, and began mopping.
Before long, another lunch patron noticed the shining floor of his efforts, and asked, 'May I also help you mop this floor?" Before long, there was a healthy contingent of cafeteria patrons picking up mops after lunch to help do their part. Their joy and numbers grew, and before they knew it, they had their own shirts, with the image of a mop on it, which said "Mopheads of Realization - Bliss through mopping"
For some time, things were going well after lunch in the cafeteria. The Broomsticks of Brotherhood were on one side of the cafeteria, and every day their floor was swept and made totally dirt-free. And on the other side, the Mopheads of Realization made the floor shine.
And then it happened. One day, one of the Mopheads saw one of the broomsticks in action, and he was intrigued by what he saw. For some time he had been trying to understand, is there not some other tool which might be used to collect the dirt from the floor, without getting it wet first? Lo and behold, before his eyes as if for the first time, was a broom; no water needed, just clean sweeping. Granted, the floor wasn't nearly as sparkling as his mopped version, but "perhaps both could be used?," he thought to himself.
He went back to the head mop-head, and his response surprised him. "That is not our way; here, we mop. If you want to sweep you can leave this side of the cafeteria. You don't belong here."
Well, that isn't how he felt at all. Perhaps in the spirit of cleaning the floor, which we all agree is the true purpose, there can be a place for both sweeping and mopping, when they are appropriate.
Having been rejected by his own fellow mop heads, the next day he decided to introduce himself to the broomsticks. When he did, he brought his mop with him.
When he approached, the head of the broomsticks stepped forward. "What are you doing with that mop over here? Do you not realize we are the broomstick brothers? "
"Well, I just thought perhaps there could be a way that floor cleaners like us could use both? That maybe both have their proper time and place?"
"Absolutely not" said the head of the broomsticks. "You are completely out of touch. You might as well go to the land of dirty floors forever! There is no hope for your future as a floor cleaner."
Dejected, the mop head now prepared to leave the cafeteria. He wasn't even sure he had the heart to mop anymore, much less try out a broom for the first time.
But when he left, one of the broomstick brothers who was watching, had a sudden shift inside. He wanted to know, 'what is this mopping business all about?'
So he ran after the departed mophead with his broom in hand, and he said "Hey, I know a gymnasium just down the hall with a very dusty floor. Will you show me how to mop, and I'll show you how to sweep?"
Together they went, and before long, mopheads and broomsticks were coming from all over; they developed a system of sweeping first, then mopping second. Both really appreciated the purpose of the other, and even found that sometimes it was appropriate for a mophead to sweep, or a broomstick brother to mop. They even had a new name of the gym, the gymnasium of all floor cleaners.
It was all going so well, and then one day, a lady with a vacuum arrived.
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