The Proverb

There once was two brothers who always spent their days together. One brother, named Kofi, was older and told the younger brother, who was named Kwasi, everything he had already learned. The only problem was that Kwasi was very selfish and anything that Kofi told him he dismissed unless it affected him personally. When Kofi told Kwasi of wars long ago, Kwasi dismissed them as being unnecessary to know.

“Why should I worry about things that have already happened?” Kwasi would mutter.

When Kofi taught him how to deal with a lion attack, Kwasi would not listen to this as well. “I have never even seen a lion in his life, so why should I worry about one attacking me?” Kwasi would again complain.

After a while, Kofi got fed up with Kwasi’s attitude and decided to teach him a lesson. Kofi took Kwasi on a trip to their grandparent’s house were they had never been before. With his plan in mind, Kofi decided to take the most dangerous path to prove how everything that he taught Kwasi was important at some point.

The first leg of their journey led them into the jungle. Rather than go on about all that Kwasi should look out for, Kofi simply stayed silent and walked ahead as Kwasi tagged behind. Kwasi was tripping over vines and small plants and called out to Kofi as he fell and cut himself on a thorn bush. The bush was poisonous and when he was cut, Kwasi cried out in pain and called for his brother to help. Kofi simply looked down and said that he had already told him what one should do when they receive a cut in the jungle and what to do when that plant is poisonous. Kwasi tried to remember and decided that he was just going to keep going. Although it hurt Kofi to do this, he kept going through the jungle as his brother started to limp in pain.

Halfway through the jungle Kwasi once again got himself into trouble as he fell into a pit of quicksand and started to sink fast. Kwasi once again called out to his brother to help him to which Kofi once again looked at his brother and said that he already told him what one should do when they fall in quicksand. Kwasi manage to remember what his brother had told him and grabbed a nearby tree branch and slowly pulled himself out of the quicksand.

Eventually, they both found their way out of the jungle and into the savannah. After a few hours of walking, Kofi noticed the signs that there was a lion in this area and kept a sharp eye out for signs that the lion was near. It got to the point where Kofi was certain that the lion was in very close proximity to them so he told his brother that they would take up camp here.

Kofi went off to gather firewood and he told Kwasi to stay and guard their belongings. While Kofi was collecting the wood, it became dark very fast and Kwasi became scared. He started to hear growls in the distance and saw the lion as it jumped towards him and began to chase him. Kofi noticed this and started to chase after the both of them. It wasn’t long before Kwasi was cornered by the lion and called out for his brother. His brother once again told him that he had already taught him what to do when a lion attacks. After this, Kwasi became irritated and yelled out at his brother: “How come you won’t even help me now? My life is at risk! What kind of brother are you?”

Kofi looked at him and said: “I pointed out the stars and the moon to you and all you saw was my finger. This is a lesson that you will have to learn, dear brother.”

After Kofi finished his statement, the lion lunged out at Kwasi as he cringed in fear, wondering if he will be able to survive a lion’s attack.

At that point, Kofi dropped down from his hiding spot on top of the lion and grabbed him by the neck, subduing it, which allowed Kwasi to escape. From there, Kofi dragged the lion by the neck and dumped him into the nearby river which gave ample time for the both of them to escape. From that day, Kwasi listened to everything his brother taught him, always remembering what could happen if he didn’t.

The story above is the best way that I could apply the following proverb:

“I pointed out the starts and moon to you,

but all you saw was my finger.”

What the proverb means to me is someone, like Kwasi in the above story, is not seeing the big picture of a situation. Just like Kwasi, this proverb is talking about a person that is shortsighted and clueless and doesn’t understand that a situation can have more to it than what is on the surface.