An American Indian woman and her friend were in downtown New York, walking down a busy main street. There are people bustling around, cars honking, taxis squealing, noises from the city, whistles blowing. It’s lunchtime and it’s really busy.
Suddenly, the woman says, “I can hear a cricket.”
Her friend replies, “No, you’re crazy! You couldn’t possibly hear a cricket in all this.”
“No, I’m sure of it. I can hear a cricket.”
She walks along, alert and searching, and crosses the street. There, she finds a scraggly plant in a big cement pot. She walks around the plant, searching beneath the leaves, and there she finds a cricket!
Her friend is amazed. “That’s incredible. You must have super-human ears!”
“No,” replies the Indian. “My ears are no different from yours. It all depends on what you are tuned into. Here, let me show you.”
She reaches into her pocket, pulls out some coins and drops them on the cement sidewalk. And then, amidst all the hustle and bustle and all the lunch hour traffic, all heads within 20 metres turn towards the sound.
“Do you see what I mean? It just depends on what is important to you.”
