The Parrot
A young man named Ray received a parrot as a gift.
The parrot had a bad attitude and an even worse vocabulary. Every word out of the bird’s mouth was rude, insulting, and laced with profanity. Ray tried and tried to change the bird’s attitude by consistently saying only polite words, playing soft music, reading poetry, and anything else he could think of to “clean up” the bird’s vocabulary. Finally, Ray was fed up and he yelled at the parrot. The parrot yelled back. Ray shook the parrot and the parrot got angrier and even ruder. Ray, in desperation, threw up his hands, grabbed the bird and put him in the freezer. For a few minutes the parrot squawked and kicked and screamed. Then suddenly there was total silence. Not a peep was heard for over a minute. Fearing that he’d hurt the parrot, Ray quickly opened the door to the freezer. The parrot calmly stepped out onto Ray’s outstretched arms and said, “I believe I may have offended you with my rude language and inappropriate actions. I’m sincerely remorseful for my transgressions and I fully intend to do everything I can to correct my rude and unforgivable behavior.”
Ray was stunned at the change in the bird’s attitude. As he was about to ask the parrot what had made such a dramatic change in his behavior, the bird continued, “May I ask what the turkey did?”
