"just lower your arms"

"There was a farmer who had many fields. And throughout all his fields, he worked very very hard at keeping all the animals away, and as such, out of his crops that he worked very very hard to plant.

And ... He was successful in keeping all the animals out. No birds, no deer- NOTHING got through all his wire fences and the traps he had set to keep the animals out.

But as time went on the farmer got more and more lonely. So lonely as a matter of fact, that one day he went out into his fields, held his arms out wide and called to all of the animals to come. He stood there all day and night with his arms out wide calling to all the animals, but none of the animals came ...

All of the animals were afraid of the farmer's new scarecrow out in the field."

I had to hunt for the words to the little story. I watched the movie "The Doctor" (1991, William Hurt) on Sunday afternoon (for the third or fourth time)... If you remember the movie, you remember the advice after the story given in the note from the doctor's fellow cancer patient concerning talking to his wife- something to the effect of "just lower your arms, and we will all come to you"...

Sometimes I can't decide if I want to even call out, let alone lower my arms..

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