Positive Psychotherapy and Other Psychotherapies

Abstract

A throng of people were packed into a puppeteer’s tent, laughing loudly as they watched the marionette show. Way at the back stood a father with his son. While the father, on tiptoe, was just barely able to see the scenes, his son’s head reached only to the hip-sashes of those around him. He practically stretched his neck out of joint, and finally cried until his father put him on his shoulders. Was that a delight! High above all the turbans, the young man now watched the amusing puppet show. He didn’t cry any more. Instead, he shouted with joy and jumped up and down on his father’s shoulders, as though he were the rider, and his father, the horse. He animatedly pounded his fists on his father’s head, kicked his feet against his ehest, and completely forgot that he was sitting on his father. Suddenly he noticed a hand on his Shoulder. Startled, he turned around and saw a dervish with a white beard looking kindly at him. “My son,” said the latter, “you are amusing yourself very well; you see the puppet theater better than many others in the tent. But think about this: if your father hadn’t taken the trouble to put you on his shoulders, you would still be standing down below, in the shadow of the others. So don’t forget whose shoulders you are sitting on. You should rejoice and be happy. But you should also not forget the other person, upon whose shoulders you are happily sitting.” (Oriental story)