The Parable of the Mosaic on the Stairs

One day while teaching, Josh was asked, ”Teacher, why is it that once they are elected, officials so often think of those who elected them as adversaries?”

Josh spoke thus:

A contractor was giving a client a tour of the newly completed work the contractor had done.

“You will notice the stairs,” the contractor said, “Per your instructions, the stairs are tiled.  Per your instructions, the tiles are mosaic tiles.  Per your instructions, the tiles depict the story of The Little Mermaid.  You can see the plot unfold, step by step.”

The contractor beckoned for the client to examine the stairs.

“Here, on the first step,” contractor said, “You can see that the Little Mermaid is in the sea.  She is looking at a ship.”

The Little Mermaid on the first step was indeed in the sea and was indeed looking at a ship.

“Here on the second step,” the contractor said, “You can see that the prince is on the ship.  The Little Mermaid is here, in the corner, gazing at the prince.”

The client saw the Little Mermaid gazing at the prince.

“Here is the Little Mermaid making her bargain, on the third step,” the contractor said, “And on the fourth step the Little Mermaid has legs and is stepping out of the sea.”

The fourth step was a masterpiece of tile work, the client saw.  The surf from which the Little Mermaid was stepping was almost three dimensional in its depiction.

The fairy tale unfolded step by step, as promised, until on the final step, the Little Mermaid sat gazing out to sea, looking just like the statue of the Little Mermaid in Copenhagen harbor.  The steps were plotted according to the original tale, without the happy ending Disney tacked on.  The client was fond of the Disney ending, but the ending of the tale was not the client’s principal concern.

“It’s astounding work,” the client said, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen such fine mosaic.  But the Little Mermaid seems a little out of place for stairs to a treehouse.”

“I thought so too,” the contractor said, “But, you know, the customer is always right.  You wanted The Little Mermaid, so  The Little Mermaid is what I made.”

“I appreciate that,” the client said, “But I must ask you, if the client is always right, why was it that when I asked you to build me a swimming pool with The Little Mermaid on the stairs, you built me a treehouse with The Little Mermaid on the stairs?”

The contractor replied, “I’ve always wanted a treehouse.”