A
young man named John received a parrot as a gift. The parrot had a bad
attitude and an even worse vocabulary. Every word out of the bird's
mouth was rude, obnoxious and laced with profanity.
John
tried and tried to change the bird's attitude by consistently saying
only polite words, playing soft music and anything else he could think
of to 'clean up' the bird's vocabulary.
Finally,
John was fed up and he yelled at the parrot. The parrot yelled back.
John shook the parrot and the parrot got angrier and even more rude.
John, in desperation, threw up his hands, grabbed the bird and put him
in the freezer.
For
a few minutes the parrot squawked and kicked and screamed. Then
suddenly there was total quiet. Not a peep was heard for over a minute.
Fearing
that he'd hurt the parrot, John quickly opened the freezer. The parrot
calmly stepped out onto John's outstretched arm and said;
"I
believe I may have offended you with my rude language and actions. I'm
sincerely remorseful for my inappropriate transgressions and I fully
intend to do everything I can to correct my rude and unforgivable
behavior."
John was stunned at the change in the bird's attitude.
As he was about to ask the parrot what had made such a dramatic change in his behavior, the bird spoke-up, very softly;
