E20. "How The Cockroach Lost Its Voice" - When cockroaches could talk, and humans were still unhappy.

Named “Top 15 Podcast” for 2020!

STORY SUMMARY: An older and younger (talking) cockroach climb to the top of the highest thing, the refrigerator, to overlook their world. The older roach tells the child that the humans he sees can talk, and also have a 3rd eye inside of them that allows them to imagine the future and remember the past, and this is what makes them unhappy all the time. An angel moth comes down and takes away the roaches ability to speak forever.

DISCUSSION: A children’s story, but one with a good lesson, about having the ability to think about the future, but not let it trouble you or dwell on it. Do other animals have this “3rd eye”? Maybe dogs or others do, to some degree. It has made humans successful because we can remember errors, and plan for future problems. It’s a trade off, but a good one. The key is to not worry so much.

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E6. "As You Wish" - If you could change anything about yourself, would you ever stop?

STORY SUMMARY: Children’s story that starts with a bunch of old tattered stuffed animals being found in a trunk by a woman. She can talk to the stuffed animals and says she will fix them back up. At first, the requests are simple, fix a torn ear, replace a missing eye… but later, the stuffed animals ask for more changes. The unicorn wants its horn removed. The panda wants to be less fat. The zebra wants its stripes removed. The final character, Sad Bear, who is always sad because he has a frown sewn on, is offered the chance to have his frown removed. He declines the offer to fix his sadness, because, he says, it is who is is, and he is okay with who he is.

DISCUSSION: This is a story about what we change, and how we accept others, and ourselves, as we are. What is an acceptable change? Fixing vision and teeth are fine, of course, but what about taking anti-depressants or body augmentation? Can we be accepting of others when the choose to make changes that we think are silly, or superficial? When it is okay to be clinically depressed, and simply accept that as who you are, or does it have to be fixed?

BOOK LINK: Download the accompanying short story here.

MAGAZINE: Sign up for our monthly magazine and receive short stories that ask ethical and philosophical questions.

SUPPORT: Support us on Patreon.

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