This Week's Story

Could there be a Manor Farm with Farmer Jones and Napoleon, and everyone working to receive fair justice under the law?

This Week’s Story relives American history and the Bible through brief inspiring stories presented on mp3 audio recordings and text for reading.

Maybe the Grass will not be Greener. part one

Here’s a dreadful story by George Orwell. Some call it a fairytale of possibilities. You decide.

Farmer Jones was an animal abuser, a drunk, and the owner of Manor Farm. Old major, a wise boar on the farm, called a meeting of all the farm creatures. He spoke solemnly and every bird and animal listened.

“Comrades, we are born, we are given just so much food as will keep the breath in our bodies, and those of us who are capable of it are forced to work to the last atom of our strength; and the very instant that our usefulness has come to an end we are slaughtered with hideous cruelty. No animal in England knows the meaning of happiness or leisure after he is a year old. No animal in England is free. The life of an animal is misery and slavery: that is the plain truth!”

“When the animals left the barn. They thought hard on the big ideas. All men are enemies. All animals are equal. One day there will be rebellion and you will be free.”

A day came when the animals received no food for several hours.

They were ready to rebel. They broke into the store-shed and ate what they wanted. When Farmer Jones and his workmen showed up, the animals attacked them. They chased Farmer Jones off Manor Farm.

The pigs had already decided they were natural leaders, because they were the smartest animals on the farm. For three months they had been planning a new system of thought and government called Animalism. They had been teaching themselves to read and write. They did not consider honesty. In fact, the leader Napoleon was a totalitarian monster, a great liar.

Most of the animals and birds had been joy-filled since freedom had been won. They discussed their possibilities. “What can we do now? How do we plant and harvest? Will we need leaders and rules? Do we choose them? Can we vote? Can we retire when we become old or will we be forced to work until we die? Was Old Major right?”

They did not ask: How do we protect our new freedom? They were convinced that life on their farm, now called, Animal Farm, was far better than Manor Farm.

Animal Farm had glorious and terrible possibilities. Reading the book has caused many Americans to think about The American Dream. What are its glorious and terrible possibilities?

People in the past and today have longed to live in a country where they could escape the threat of death, where they could survive. Could they have clean water, enough food to feel satisfied, the freedom to worship God openly, education, and a government for and by the people? Being smart would not be the requirement for participation. Being informed and having a shared standard would be.

Could there be a Manor Farm with Farmer Jones and Napoleon, and everyone working to receive fair justice under the law?

Return for part two. This is Barbara Steiner, happy to be with you after a long bout with hoarseness.

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