The Parable of the Tapestry

Imagine, if you will, an artist handmade a tapestry. The tapestry wasn't perfect as it was made by a human, but it was beautiful. For decades people talked about how beautiful it was, how the colors and threads intertwined. They talked with each other about how the story in the tapestry related to them and changed their lives. People even tried to determine the history of characters in the corner stories. Even the flaws were talked about and what they might mean and if they were done by accident, or on purpose. Over the decades the tapestry, the story it displayed, and the story of how it came into existence was passed all around the world. People asked each other if they had seen details in it that had made them think about their own lives. Many people asked the artist to explain various aspects of the tapestry, but generally the artist wanted people to think about how the tapestry spoke to them, personally.

After decades of all the sharing, a collector bought the tapestry. The collector noticed that the tapestry was a bit worn and frayed so they hired some new artists to restore the tapestry. The new artists promised they could fix the tapestry and off they went.

After some time, the new artists returned and were excited to show the world how they had fixed the worn and frayed tapestry. An announcement went out to the world that the fixed tapestry would be displayed at the next World’s Fair.

Many came to the Fair from all over the world, excited to see the tapestry restored to its original glory. The new artists spoke about the months of arduous work they had spent fixing the beautiful tapestry. When the cloth hiding the tapestry was finally removed, the crowd gasped in horror at what they saw.

The new artists had cut out portions of the story and stitched them into other parts of the tapestry. The holes created in the story were filled with "x"'s in squares or a partial story idea had been stitched in. In some places blues had been replaced by orange yarn. In other sections, greens had been replaced with purple sackcloth. The lions from part of the story had been replaced with sheep. Dinosaurs had been added to the story on one of the new patches that had been stitched in.

The people who had such fond memories of the beautiful tapestry, were horrified at what had been done. They were upset with the orange yarn. They were upset with the purple sackcloth. They were upset with all the changes to the original story the tapestry had told. People were confused about what story this wholly changed tapestry was now telling. The people who had such fond memories of the original, beautiful tapestry, booed, yelled, and threw tomatoes at the new artists.

The new artists claimed that the people who had such fond memories were “peasants”. The new artists claimed that the “peasants” couldn't comprehend how their fixes made the story better. The new artists claimed the “peasants” didn't like other people simply because of their skin color. The new artists accused the “peasants” of being mean people, who wished to murder thousands of people because they were from a different culture.

The people who had such fond memories lit the atrocious thing on fire and went home. The people who had such fond memories continued displaying pictures of the original tapestry. The people who had such fond memories continued sharing the stories depicted in the old tapestry. The people who had such fond memories never paid the new artists for anything, ever again.