Updated July 16, 2023                                              |

The Noble Art of Self-Deception

submited by
Style Pass
2024-11-02 12:30:09

Updated July 16, 2023 | Reviewed by Ray Parker

Where I grew up, there was a lumberjack who was an oddball. He was stingy, surviving on coarse bread, grease, and salted herring. The remaining money was spent on vodka.

It is said that during his evening meal, he would spread grease on a slice of bread and place a piece of herring from a jar at one end of the bread. As he ate, he moved the herring farther away from the bread. Finally, when he finished the last piece of bread, he would return the herring to the jar and exclaim aloud to himself: "I fooled you again, you stupid bastard."

Who was fooling whom? The lumberjack was not schizophrenic, but like everyone else, he sometimes had a dialog with himself: Should he eat the herring now or save it for his future self? The herring became increasingly rancid, the more he favored the future.

Leave a Comment