It may be known to you already - or maybe not... But anyway, I think it is a good story to compare it with some experiences that I made in the last weeks here on SCN.
Some travellers come to a village, carrying nothing more than an empty cooking pot. Upon their arrival, the villagers are unwilling to share any of their food stores with the hungry travellers. Then the travellers go to a stream and fill the pot with water, drop a large stone in it, and place it over a fire. One of the villagers becomes curious and asks what they are doing. The travellers answer that they are making "stone soup", which tastes wonderful, although it still needs a little bit of garnish to improve the flavour, which they are missing. The villager does not mind parting with a few carrots to help them out, so that gets added to the soup. Another villager walks by, inquiring about the pot, and the travellers again mention their stone soup which has not reached its full potential yet. The villager hands them a little bit of seasoning to help them out. More and more villagers walk by, each adding another ingredient. Finally, a delicious and nourishing pot of soup is enjoyed by all. (Source: Wikipedia Stone Soup - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).
So - why do I post this story?
I feel like one of the strangers, arriving in a town, that consists - like any large town - of many sub-areas / villages . Yes, I may not have the best ingredients with me, but at least I am giving it a try. I am having a little piece of information that I find worth to share with the villagers. And some folks, that I would not even consider being inhabitants of this specific area of the town, are telling me, that I should not even try to cook stone soup in this part of town/village, as the villagers will not like it anyway.
What are your thoughts on this? I am really interested in coming into an exchange - only then the stone soup will taste nicely.
