A village builds a clock tower so everyone can glance up at it and know what time it is. The tower helps as people meet more easily, work schedules align, and meals are shared. Over time, fewer people watch the sun and the clock becomes authoritative. When it stops working, nobody knows what time it is.
Discord ensues and arguments follow as meetings are missed and people wait impatiently for repairs.
An older woman in the village kept baking at dawn and never stopped watching the sun. She never relied on the clock. Villagers gathers at her door and call her wise, for her practice ends up inadvertently helping to re-calibrate the clock once it is repaired. She replies that she is not wise or special and was just going about her usual baking routine.
The clock is repaired, but a banker doesn't use it. Inspired by the baker, she follows the sun. In the summer she opens while everyone else is asleep. In the winter the windows stay closed until nearly 1000. Locals become increasingly confused by the erratic hours. No one can agree on when the bank will open on a cloudy morning. When confronted she mutters something about the baker. At the local banking conference she presents on her newfound wisdom and receives a standing ovation.
retrocog · · focus · HN ↗
tyrust · · focus · HN ↗