Sunday, July 10, 2005

Follow the Leader?

Surely you have heard from your mother this famous quote; "If your best friend jumped on a cliff would you do it because he did?" You must understand that if one does something really, really stupid that does not mean you have to accomplish the same act of stupidity, and then prove yourself just as dumb or dumber than your friend. Take a lesson from what occurred just this week......



ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) - First one sheep jumped to its death. Then stunned Turkish shepherds, who had left the herd to graze while they had breakfast, watched as nearly 1,500 others followed, each leaping off the same cliff, Turkish media reported.

In the end, 450 dead animals lay on top of one another in a billowy white pile, the Aksam newspaper said. Those who jumped later were saved as the pile got higher and the fall more cushioned, Aksam reported. "There's nothing we can do. They're all wasted," Nevzat Bayhan, a member of one of 26 families whose sheep were grazing together in the herd, was quoted as saying by Aksam.

The estimated loss to families in the town of Gevas, located in Van province in eastern Turkey, tops $100,000, a significant amount of money in a country where average GDP per head is around $2,700. "Every family had an average of 20 sheep," Aksam quoted another villager, Abdullah Hazar as saying. "But now only a few families have sheep left. It's going to be hard for us."



This brings this in to perspective - if your friend dares to "jumped off the cliff", be smarter than those sheep! Playing follow the leader can be hazardous to your health!

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