Tony Escobar

It was the coldest winter in 40 years – Many animals died due to the frigid cold.  The porcupines watching this happen and realizing their predicament decided to bundle up together to stay warm. This way they covered,  protected and warmed each other up; but there was a problem, the quills of each porcupine ended up wounding each other, even though they were able to generate heat to warm each other up.

After awhile some decided to separate themselves from the others and they soon died.  So the survivors had to make a choice: either accept the sharp quills of the others or simply die from the extreme cold.  Wisely, the remainder decided to stick together and tolerate the sharp quills.

Something interesting happened hear they learned to live with the needle like jabs caused by the closeness of the relationships with the other porcupines, but the most important benefit, obviously was the heat that was keeping the group of porcupines bonded together.  The heat of each other was what they needed to survive the extreme cold.

What can be learned here?

The best relationships of all is not the ones that bring perfect people together, but when each person learns to live with the imperfections of others and admire the other person’s good qualities and tolerate the not so good.