There’s an old Russian folk tale, goes something like this:
Once there were two poor farmers, living on opposite sides of the single dirt road that went through their village. Every day they rose early, went out and worked hard tilling their fields, trying their best to feed their families. It wasn’t an easy life for either of them.
One day, one of the farmers began starting every day by getting down on his knees in the rocky soil of his farm, fervently praying for help from God lest his family starve from the harsh conditions of life. For a solid month, the poor farmer started every day in prayer. And all the while, the farmer on the opposite side of the road stood by his fence, watching his neighbor perform this daily ritual.
Then one day, during his prayers, an angel of the Lord appeared before the farmer in a flash of light, and asked him, “God has heard your prayers, and I have been sent here to grant you one wish. What shall it be?” The amazed farmer, still on his knees, said, “Oh, if I could but have a cow! A strong, healthy milk cow. Then my family could have milk, and from the milk we could make cheese, and the cow could help me plow and till my fields, and help me make my family’s life so much easier.”
Seeing the wisdom of the farmer’s request, in a flash of light the angel disappeared, and where the angel had stood the farmer saw a young, strong, healthy milk cow. The farmer immediately gave thanks to the Lord and the angel, rose from his knees, and led his cow back to the barn.
Now, the farmer on the opposite side of the road saw all this, and every day thereafter watched as his neighbor flourished with an abundance of fresh milk, and cheese, and he watched the man and his cow tend his fields five times faster than the farmer could before his cow came to him. He saw how his neighbor was able to trade some of his cheese in the village for other goods his family sorely needed. Within weeks, the farmer and his family were flourishing as never before.
After watching his neighbor’s life and circumstances improve so much in a short period of time, the farmer on the opposite side of the road began starting his own days in prayer, much as his neighbor had. Every morning he would kneel on the rocky soil of his farm, fervently praying to God for assistance. After a month of this, an angel of the Lord appeared before him in a flash of light, and said to the farmer, “God has heard your prayers, and I have been sent here to grant you one wish. What shall it be?”
The farmer on the opposite side of the road arose from his knees, pointed a finger across the road toward his neighbor’s farm and said, “Kill that fucking cow!”
And this, my friends, is the essence of Socialism.
