People often feel that if something is not working they must 'change everything' and 'disregard all the old
    ways'. This happens in societies as well as on an individual level. The architects of revolution often want
    to throw out all vestiges of past culture and belief as  that represents what was 'bad' and must be
    replaced by the new 'good'. When we learn to be more subtle and perceive shades of grey and
    gradations of 'rightness' and 'wrongness', we get a better balance and life becomes more workable.

    A question of balance

    Once upon the type of time when animals and humans lived in greater harmony there was a certain
    village out there somewhere. And in this village there lived a particular snake who was vicious and  
    unkind and had long forgotten his heritage of timeless wisdom and the path that surely leads away      
    from pettiness and spite.

    Not much harmony about him. He would threaten the local inhabitants and on occasion give them a
    painful bite, although fortunately his bite was not venomous.

    The villagers were superstitious and afraid to kill the snake and so it ruled over them and tyrannized   
    them through fear.

    One fine day a wise old man came through the village. He had seen much of the world while managing to
    remain disentangled from its more pernicious temptations and distractions and he saw at once how the
    power balance had gone out of kilter and how the snake ruled the villagers through fear and was itself
    ruled by its own pettiness and vindictiveness. Now the old wise one didn't look much like a brave warrior,
    but he had managed in his time to vanquish fear.  And so he approached the tyrannical snake and began
    to speak.

    "Listen, oh snake, to the words of an old man who has seen much and understood some of it. You are
    mistaking fear for respect, and hate for regard. Cease and desist your constant biting of children and
    adults!

    Learn to live in harmony again and build true relationships with a people who worship snakes as
    guardians of sacred knowledge."

    The snake at first hissed in dismissal, and made to bite the old man, but something in those words he
    had heard must have got through to him, for he suddenly relented and avowed that he would change his
    ways.

    Many months later the old man came back through the same village and what did he see but the children
    taunting and beating the snake with a piece of clay piping. They were laughing at the snake, who
    steadfastly refused to retaliate or even to raise its head from the ground. When the children grew bored
    with their tormenting and ran away, the snake turned to the old man.

    "Thanks to you, my life is now one of torment! The children and now even some of the adults mock and
    prod me to distraction. But I promised you I would mend my ways and - unlike humans - snakes keep  
    their promises!"

    The old man looked at him and replied: "Oh snake, a power balance is just that - a balance. If you are too hard in
    life, you will eventually become brittle and snap like a twig; if you become too soft, you'll be squashed like an egg.   
    I told you not to bite but - I never said you should stop hissing.  -- Author unknown
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A Teaching Tale: A Question of Balance
'A Good Read'...