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A Warm Fuzzy Tale
by Grace Terry
 Various
versions of the following story were circulated through the Human Potential
Movement of the 1960s and 70s. The following version was included in the book
Scripts People Live, by Claude Steiner. I see it as a powerful metaphor for
the law of circulation.
-- Grace Terry, author,
Prosperity Guaranteed
Once upon a time, a long time ago, there lived two very happy people called
Tim and Maggie with two children called John and Lucy. To understand how happy
they were, you have to understand how things were in those days. You see, in
those days everyone was given at birth a small, soft, Fuzzy Bag. Anytime a
person reached into this bag he was able to pull out a Warm Fuzzy. Warm Fuzzies
were very much in demand because whenever somebody was given a Warm Fuzzy it
made him feel warm and fuzzy all over. People who didn't get Warm Fuzzies
regularly were in danger of developing a sickness in their back which caused
them to shrivel up and die.
In those days it was very easy to get Warm Fuzzies. Anytime that somebody
felt like it, he might walk up to you and say, "I'd like to have a Warm Fuzzy."
You would then reach into your bag and pull out a Fuzzy the size of a little
girl's hand. As soon as the Fuzzy saw the light of day it would smile and
blossom into a large, shaggy, Warm Fuzzy. You then would lay it on the persons
shoulder or head or lap and it would snuggle up and melt right against their
skin and make them feel good all over. People were always asking each other for
Warm Fuzzies, and since they were always given freely, getting enough of them
was never a problem. There were always plenty to go around, and as a consequence
everyone was happy and felt warm and fuzzy most of the time.
One day a bad witch became angry because everyone was so happy and no one was
buying potions and salves. The witch was very clever and devised a very wicked
plan. One beautiful morning the witch crept up to Tim while Maggie was playing
with their daughter and whispered in his ear, "See here, Tim, look at all the
Fuzzies that Maggie is giving to Lucy. You know, if she keeps it up, eventually
she is going to run out and then there wont be any left for you!"
Tim was astonished. He turned to the witch and said, "Do you mean to tell me
that there isn't a Warm Fuzzy in our bag every time we reach into it?"
And the witch said, "No, absolutely not, and once you run out, that's it. You
don't have any more." With this the witch flew away on a broom, laughing and
cackling all the way.
Tim took this to heart and began to notice every time Maggie gave up a Warm
Fuzzy to somebody else. Eventually he got very worried and upset because he
liked Maggie's Warm Fuzzies very much and did not want to give them up. He
certainly did not think it was right for Maggie to be spending all her Warm
Fuzzies on the children and on other people. He began to complain every time he
saw Maggie giving a Warm Fuzzy to somebody else, and because Maggie liked him
very much, she stopped giving Warm Fuzzies to other people as often, and
reserved them for him.
The children watched this and soon began to get the idea that it was wrong to
give up Warm Fuzzies any time you were asked or felt like it. They too became
very careful. They would watch their parents closely and whenever they felt that
one of their parents was giving away too many Fuzzies to others, they also began
to object. They began to feel worried whenever they gave away too many Warm
Fuzzies. Even though they found a Warm Fuzzy every time they reached into their
bag, they reached in less and less and became more and more stingy. Soon people
began to notice the lack of Warm Fuzzies, and they began to feel less warm and
less fuzzy. They began to shrivel up and occasionally, people would die from
lack of Warm Fuzzies. More and more people went to the witch to buy potions and
salves even though they didn't seem to work.
Well, the situation was getting very serious indeed. The bad witch who had
been watching all of this didn't really want the people to die (since dead
people couldn't buy his salves and potions), so a new plan was devised. Everyone
was given a bag that was very similar to the Fuzzy Bag except that this one was
cold while the Fuzzy Bag was warm. Inside of the witch's bag were Cold Pricklies.
These cold pricklies did not make people feel warm and fuzzy, but made them feel
cold and prickly instead. But, they did prevent people's backs from shriveling
up. So, from then on, every time somebody said, "I want a Warm Fuzzy," people
who were worried about depleting their supply would say, "I can't give you a
Warm Fuzzy, but would you like a Cold Prickly?" Sometimes, two people would walk
up to each other, thinking they could get a Warm Fuzzy, but one or the other of
them would change his mind and they would wind up giving each other Cold
Pricklies. So, the end result was that while very few people were dying, a lot
of people were sad, unhappy, and feeling very cold and prickly.
The situation got very complicated because, since the coming of the witch,
there were less and less Warm Fuzzies around; so Warm Fuzzies, which used to be
thought of as free as air, became extremely valuable. This caused people to do
all sorts of things in order to obtain them. Before the witch had appeared,
people used to gather in groups of three, four, or five, never caring too much
who was giving Warm Fuzzies to whom. After the coming of the witch, people began
to pair off and to reserve all their Warm Fuzzies for each other exclusively.
People who forgot themselves and gave a Warm Fuzzy to someone else would
immediately feel guilty about it because they knew that their partner would
probably resent the loss of a Warm Fuzzy. People who could not find a generous
partner had to buy their Warm Fuzzies and had to work long hours to earn the
money.
Some people somehow became "popular" and got a lot of Warm Fuzzies without
having to return them. These people would then sell these Warm Fuzzies to people
who were "unpopular" and needed them to survive.
Another thing which happened was that some people would take Cold Pricklies
-- which were limitless and freely available -- coat them white and fluffy and
pass them on as Warm Fuzzies. These counterfeit Warm Fuzzies were really Plastic
Fuzzies, and they caused additional difficulties. For instance, two people would
get together and freely exchange Plastic Fuzzies, which presumably should have
made them feel good, but they came away feeling bad instead. Since they thought
they had been exchanging Warm Fuzzies, people grew very confused about this,
never realizing that their cold prickly feelings were really the result of the
fact they had been given a lot of Plastic Fuzzies.
So the situation was very, very dismal and it all started because of the
witch who made people believe that some day, when least expected, they might
reach into their Warm Fuzzy Bag and find no more.
Not long ago, a young woman with big hips born under the sign of Aquarius
came to this unhappy land. She seemed not to have heard about the bad witch and
was not worried about running out of Warm Fuzzies. She gave them out freely,
even when not asked. They called her the Hip Woman and disapproved of her
because she was giving the children the idea that they should not worry about
running out of Warm Fuzzies. The children liked her very much because they felt
good around her and they began to give out Warm Fuzzies whenever they felt like
it.
The grownups became concerned and decided to pass a law to protect the
children from depleting their supplies of Warm Fuzzies. The law made it a
criminal offense to give out Warm Fuzzies in a reckless manner, without a
license. Many children, however, seemed not to care; in spite of the law they
continued to give each other Warm Fuzzies whenever they felt like it and always
when asked. Because there were many, many children, almost as many as grownups,
it began to look as if maybe they would have their way.
As of now it is hard to say what will happen. Will the grownup forces of law
and order stop the recklessness of the children? Are the grownups going to join
with the Hip Woman and the children in taking the chance that there will always
be as many Warm Fuzzies as needed? Will they remember the days their children
are trying to bring back when Warm Fuzzies were abundant because people gave
them away freely?
 This
article is excerpted from the book:
Prosperity Guaranteed
by Grace Terry.
Reprinted with permission of the publisher, Lucky Press. ©2002. www.luckypress.com/prosperityguaranteed
Info/Order this book.
About the Author
Grace
Terry, MSW, is the co-founder of Prosperity Park Associates (www.prosperity-park.com),
an organization of people who share the goal of learning, living, and teaching
spiritual truth. She has taught thousands to find and follow their bliss. Grace
and her husband Jim Auxier live, work, and travel full-time in their
recreational vehicle (RV). As they travel nationally, Grace writes, conducts
workshops and retreats and provides prosperity coaching, teacher mentoring, and
spiritual companioning to individuals through postal mail and e-mail.
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