Week 5 Story: Jataka Tales (Babbitt)

The Foolish, Timid Rabbit

There was once a foolishly naïve girl living along the Pacific coast. Each day, she would wake up, work out, grab brunch, get a massage, get dressed, go out, pass out and sleep, all to do the same thing over again the next day. 

As Wednesday afternoon arrived, or hump day as she would call it, the girl, Cassie, waited in the lobby for her daily massage appointment. While taking the last crucial sips of her pumpkin spice latte, Cassie's name was called. Her ear's perked at the sound of her name and she eagerly jumped up to follow her usual massage therapist, Jolean. 

Cassie went through the typical motions of getting a message: took off her clothes, got under the blanket face down and waited for Jolean to re-enter the room. Finally, she felt the warmed oil massaged throughout her body sending her into a conscious slumber. Still half awake, she felt her muscles relax one by one, feeling as if she had flipped to her side hours ago. However, she offered little protest as it was proving to be the best massage she had ever received. 

Just when the scent of lavender was about to cushion her slip into unconsciousness, Jolean softly jolted her awake. Once dressed, Cassie offered her gratitude and went on her way to check out. However, as she approached the lobby desk she noticed a rather large sign with the word "GLUTEN" clearly stated and a red x slashed across it. 

Cassie, confused by the broadness of gluten in general, questioned the woman running her card. As Cassie was scrolling through her Instagram, the unacknowledged woman behind the counter explained that going gluten-free was now the best diet to follow for various reasons. Still confused by why this one restriction promises large advantages, Cassie froze. She was embarrassed about knowing so little about the hottest trends, so she left Massage Envy to spread the word to seem like she was on the trends cutting edge. 

Soon after, Cassie's friends, family, Instagram followers, were all ditching gluten. Each of them began to lose their childish humor and take themselves too seriously. Finally, Cassie's little sister Stacie frustrated with her new restrictions asked, "So, why exactly can I not have pasta?" to which her best friend responded, "Becuase Cassie said eating gluten is bad for us and not eating it will make us skinny, for sure." 

Unamused by her friend's response, Stacie looked at Cassie and said "Well Cassie, where did you hear this? Because right now I am just hungry and tired of this bland way of life." Feeling confident in her trendsetting abilities, Cassie explained to her sister the story of Massage Envy leaving out her ill knowledge of the gluten trend, to begin with. Again, unamused by the answers she was getting, Stacie decided to do her own research. She found that yes cutting out gluten a healthy lifestyle choice, but it did not guarantee weight loss and it is most beneficial to those with the allergy. 

So, fed up with these dietary trends, Stacie decided to call it quiets to enjoy all that she wanted, within reason, and lived happily ever after, unlike her sister Cassie. 

_________________________________________________________________________________

Authors Note: 

My story is based on one of Jataka's Tales, The Foolish, Timid Rabbit. I took the original idea of the story which was do act on or listen to a rumor without having proper knowledge. At first, I was going to use the general idea of having a friend spread a rumor, but then I wanted to think of a rumor that was spread throughout society. For this purpose, I chose to use a dietary trend that celebrity type people promise will result in great weight loss. This goes far beyond going gluten-free, there are many diets proposed to people that often ask you to cut something out. However, after much research of my own, I have found that the best diet to follow is intuitive senses. Intuitive eating is the most beneficial to your specific body. Following a lot of these proposed diets is often difficult as far as results go due to everyone's body being so different. Nonetheless, I thought this would be an interesting approach and will probably add this to my class porfolio so that I can expand and improve on it.