Once upon a time, a scorpion needed to cross a river. He couldn’t swim, so he asked a frog he found by the riverbank for a ride on his back. The frog was hesitant at first. “What if you sting me?” he asked. The scorpion reasoned, “If I sting you, we both would drown!” So, the frog agreed, thinking it made sense.

Halfway across the river, the scorpion stung the frog. As they both started sinking, the frog asked, “Why did you do that? Now we’ll both drown!” The scorpion replied, “I couldn’t help it. It’s in my nature.”

This is a metaphor for a situation we find ourselves in today.

There is a very dangerous man – a would-be dictator who has been convicted of multiple crimes – and a very small handful of extremists who are preventing the US congress from taking actions that a vast majority of both major political parties approve of. They have paralyzed the nation in the same way that the scorpion would paralyze the frog.

Many of us worry that the consequences of this scorpion could result in a profound tragedy for us all.

Let’s write ourselves another ending to the fable.

Once upon a time, a scorpion needed to cross a river. He couldn’t swim, so he asked a frog he found by the riverbank for a ride on his back. The frog was hesitant at first. “What if you sting me?” he asked. The scorpion reasoned, “If I sting you, we both would drown!” The frog thought about it.

“I have another idea,” said the frog.

“What’s that?” asked the scorpion.

“You look like a bug,” the frog said.

“So?”

“I eat bugs,” said the frog, and it ate the scorpion right up.

Later on, the frog had a bit of a tummy ache, but it soon passed, and the frog lived happily ever after.