The world is experiencing a series of tremendous disruptions – in entertainment, in journalism, in retail, in manufacturing, in medicine, and many more.  Maybe you are experiencing a disruption of your own.

You can adjust to these rapid-fire (and sometimes unwelcome) changes in one of two ways. I’ll call this the Parable of the Boat and the Butterfly.

[...]

One day, after a long period of calm weather, the wind started gusting.  Over the course of the morning, the wind blew harder and harder.  It shook the houses.  It knocked over recycle bins and sent newspapers flying down the street.  No one in town had ever seen wind like this.

At the harbor the wind caused huge waves to crush into the piers, which rattled the docks and sent the merchant fisherman scrambling for cover.  Out in the middle of the harbor, a lone boat which had become unmoored floated amidst the huge waves.  But despite the howling wind and roaring waves, the boat did not capsize.  It flowed with the forces acting on it.  When the waves crested, the boat rose.  When a trough came, the boat dipped.  Having no sail and no hand on the tiller, the boat floated where it would, not fighting the chaos but temporarily merging with it.

At one precise moment, a butterfly, blown in from who knows where, was fluttering out at sea.  The butterfly kept flapping his wings, trying – vainly – to go in this direction or that direction, but was stymied at every attempt by the overwhelming power of the wind.  The butterfly flapped left – and went straight.  He flapped right – and went straight.  Up and down – he went straight.  He tried so hard to go in different directions other than with the prevailing wind that he finally tired and, unable to keep himself aloft, folded his wings in and was crushed into the roiling waters.

Eventually the wind died down, and the little boat was recovered and brought back to land by the fishermen.  Aside from getting wet, there was no damage.

End of parable.