CHOMPING DOWN

There is a common theme that I’ve been witnessing lately and I must admit that it annoys the hell out of me.  It defies logic, makes the one choosing to exercise this warped behavior look fairly idiotic and frankly is just the ultimate display of immaturity.  The common theme that I’m referring to is biting the hand that feeds you.  Let me define the idiom: “Biting the hand that feeds you” means to turn on someone that has supported you, to turn on a benefactor or a friend or to repay right with wrong.  “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you” comes from Aesop’s Fable, The Dog in the Manger, where a dog takes up residence in a manger belonging to an ox.  When the ox returns to its manger and attempts to eat the straw the dog bares his teeth and refuses to share the straw or the manger with the ox.  The dog displayed no respect for the ox and curled up and went to sleep in the ox’s manger with no regard to where the ox would eat or sleep.

When my kids were toddlers, the meaning of “don’t bite the hand that feeds you” was quite literal.  I get that you’re hungry and must have the Cheerios immediately and I get that you are quite proud of your brand new, razor-sharp, baby teeth, but please use your manners and at least wait until I place them in your bowl to start chomping down.  Now that my kids are older and less inclined to bear their teeth when I serve them their meals, this phrase has become much more figurative in meaning.  If you want people to be nice to you, it's best to practice kindness, as you catch more flies with honey than vinegar.  Pay it forward.  I’m sure you get the drift… hopefully they do as well. 

The bottom line is that people will surely stop doing things for you when they find out that it is expected rather than appreciated.  Be WayBeyondZ grateful and realize that if you bite the hand that feeds you, you’re going to stop being fed. 

Those who bite the hand that feeds them usually end up licking the boot that kicks them.

~Eric Hoffer