Once upon a time, a prince inherited sovereignty of an ancient land.

To the new king's surprise he found there were wise men waiting permission to enter his presence. Before he granted admission to his throne room he was told they were looking for his father, not him.

When the sages finally gained admission the young king was presented with a gift. He was informed that this was but a delegation of a great college of elders. Ten years before they had been royally charged with the responsibility of distilling all wisdom into a single book.

Books are good for kings, but as a prince his highness had been too busy partying to learn how to enjoy reading. If he could read he would have discovered the wise had journeyed not only through secret wisdom to be found in history, but had journeyed far into the future to unravel life's mysteries. The title of the book was written by an esteemed visionary of the future - Mark Twain.

"The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them."

To hide his ignorance, the leader of the kingdom waved his hand in dismissal, "Return when you have distilled all wisdom into one sentence," he proclaimed.

The next five years were turbulent ones for the kingdom, there seemed no consistency or relevancy in the kings reign. Some even whispered that, perhaps, maybe, it could be considered, the idea of all powerful and knowing kings was a mistake. This talk was dangerous and never reached the king.

The king knew of course that some things were going wrong; but he had no idea how to fix them. When truffles became scarce, he ordered that all found were to belong to the kingdom, and his chef now said none were being found at all. When he was told horse feed was too expensive he ordered it to be sold at half price. When he heard that horse feed was now rare since few were growing it, he ordered that what remained should be free, and controlled by his government. Now what little horse feed was available had to be imported at great expense. This should not happen - he was king!

The king was therefore thrilled to learn that the wise man delegation had returned; he had quite forgotten them. With little fanfare they entered the royal presence and offered a great summation of all wisdom, current, past, and future in one sentence:

This Too Shall Pass.

Not exactly the quick fix the king was looking for. He once more sent away the wise, retaining none as advisers. His current advisers told him what he wanted to hear; always a quick fix, while ignoring long term consequences.

The king was not to be bothered with nonessentials that didn't have simple solutions included. He did tell the delegation to return - once they had distilled all the world's wisdom into one word.

The kingdom became rebellious. A few strikes, a few tax collectors tarred and feathered, some pictures of the king even had mustaches drawn on them. To calm the ignorant literate in his kingdom the king raised taxes, again. Surely everyone would be happier if the king controlled most of the money and directed everyone's lives.

It didn't seem to help.

Things went from bad to worse. The king was in desperate straits when the wise returned for what would be their final presentation. The entire college of elders had agreed on one word that summed up both all logic and all wisdom. That one wise word was --


maybe

In the end it is just picking a good spot to sit, and waiting.

This lens will go public in late May of 2008; will it take months before the first ratings? Will it take years before a consensus forms?

Will I have the fortitude to wait.

I can bring no better bait than my best lenses, and a faith in my fellow Squiooers. Will that faith be rewarded?

That is up to you.

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"We hear fables about the past, we develop dreams of the future, but the work needs to be done today." - Allan R. Wallace