I still remember this old story my Martial Arts instructor used to tell every New Year.

A scorpion, being a very poor swimmer, asked a frog to carry him on his back across a river.

"Are you crazy?" said the frog. "You'll sting me while I'm swimming and I'll drown."

"My dear frog," laughed the scorpion, "if I were to sting you, you would drown and I would go down with you. Now where is the logic in that?"

"You're right!" cried the frog. "Climb on!"

The scorpion climbed aboard and halfway across the river gave the frog a deadly sting.

As they both sank to the bottom, the frog said, "Do you mind if I ask you something? You said there'd be no logic in your stinging me. Why did you do it?"

"It has nothing to do with logic," the drowning scorpion said with sadness. "It's just my character."

The story's moral? Some creatures just are what they are. It matters not how gently they are treated; their innate nature will cause them to harm even those who have shown them kindness.



Some people will always remain true to their nature, even when they know their actions will be as much their undoing, as well as their victims.

The instructor used to say, "How people treat you is their nature; how you react is yours.”

Ian