The Wind and the Sun

The Wind was arguing with the Sun about which one of them was the stronger.

Suddenly they saw a traveler coming down the road, and the Sun said: "I see a way to decide our dispute. Whichever of us can cause that traveler to take off his cloak shall be regarded as the stronger. You begin."

So the Sun retired behind a cloud, and the Wind began to blow as hard as it could upon the traveler. But the harder he blew the more closely did the traveler wrap his cloak round him, till at last the Wind had to give up in despair.

Then the Sun came out and shone in all his glory upon the traveler, who soon found it too hot to walk with his cloak on and removed it.

Moral of the story: Kindness effects more than severity.


Gentle persuasion will usually work much better than brute force. When you try to force someone to do something, their defenses go up and they will immediately balk at being controlled. But reasoning and understanding will often break through the barriers.