Swingset Philosophy: An Allegory

Phil and Josh were friends. Phil was older than Josh, but they were introduced by their mutual friend Tommy. After that, they became really good friends and did a lot of things together. Josh liked Phil because he said a lot of smart things, and Phil liked Josh because he sometimes answered his really hard questions.

Like any friendship, Phil and Josh's had had some rough spots. One time Josh started hanging out with some kids named Marty and Johnny. Marty and Johnny said some really smart things, just like Phil, but some of the things they said sounded really strange to Phil, and Josh didn't like it when Phil said this to him.

Another time, a new kid named Freddy moved to town. Freddy became friends with Phil, but he would always tell other people that he wasn't Phil's friend. To make things worse, Freddy said some really mean things about Josh and told people that Phil said them. Even though Freddy moved away, Josh was still kind of mad at Phil because of the things Freddy said.

One day, Phil and Josh were at a playground. Josh was talking to Phil about all the cool things he could do. Phil liked to listen to Josh talk about these things, but he still had to ask him questions about them. That's just the way Phil was. He asked questions all the time; he asked his parents questions, his teachers questions, and all of his friends questions.

At the playground, Josh and Phil were playing on the swingset. They kept swinging higher and higher. Finally, Josh told Phil that he could swing so high, that he could touch a branch on a nearby tree with his foot. Phil, just being himself, asked Josh if he could really do it, and said that he thought it would be really hard. As soon as Phil said this, Josh got really mad and ran to his mom. He told her that Phil was being really mean to him and called him stupid. Josh's mom usually believed everything he said, so she got really mad at Phil too.

Josh's mom doesn't let him play with Phil anymore.