Something I read at lunchtime today

After I picked the boys up from camp this morning, we drove for a while before stopping for lunch. We ended up at the A-Pine Family Restaurant in Pequot Lakes, MN. A fine place to eat, if you are ever in the area.

We happened to arrive at the height of the lunch rush, so we ended up waiting quite a while for a server to take our order. So I found myself reading the menu from cover to cover. It's one of those family-run places that gives a little background on how they started. They had a story on the inside cover of the menu that I liked, so I googled to find it now that I am back home. The version I found online is slightly different from the menu story, but the message is the same:


A father, in order to test the geographical knowledge of his son, took a map of the world and cut it into many pieces. He then called his son and said to him, “Look, my son, I have cut up the map of the world and I would like you to put these pieces back together correctly.” The son took away all the pieces, and in a very short time brought them back, all put together correctly. He had taped them together and showed his father the intact map of the world. The father was taken aback. Even he himself could not have put those pieces together in such a short time. Very curious, he questioned his son as to how he had done it so quickly. The child replied, “Papa, on the back of the map is a picture of a man. I put him right and then, the world was right, too.” Yes, thought the father - if the man is right, the world is right.


It struck me as such a simple saying with such a profound meaning. If the man (or person, to be gender-neutral!) is right ... it will naturally follow that the world is right.

I really like that restaurant :-)