The Tale Of The Warm Fuzzies      

Once upon a time - a long time ago, there lived two very happy people,
Jim 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 warm soft
fuzzy-bag.      

Anytime a person reached into his or her bag, they were able to pull out a
warm fuzzy. Warm fuzzies were very much in demand, because whenever
someone was given a warm fuzzy, he would feel warm and fuzzy all over.
The people who didn't get warm fuzzies regularly were in danger of 
developing sickness in their backs which caused them to shrivel up and die.
In those days it was very easy to get warm fuzzies.       

Any time somebody felt like it, he might walk up to you and say "I would
like to have a warm fuzzy from you". You would then dip into your bag and
pull out a fuzzy the size of a little child's hand. As soon as the fuzzy came
out it would smile and blossom into a large shaggy warm fuzzy. You would
then lay it on the persons shoulder or head or lap and it would snuggle 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 happy and no-one
was buying her potions and salves. The witch was very clever and she
devised a very wicked plan. One beautiful morning, she crept up to Jim
while Maggie was playing with their daughter and whispered in his ear,
"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 there won't be any
left for you".       

Jim was astonished. He turned to the witch and said, "Do you mean to tell me
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 is it and you don't
have any more". With this she flew away on her broom laughing and cackling
hysterically. Jim took this all to heart and began to notice every time Maggie
gave up a warm fuzzy to anyone 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 and did not want him to be upset, she stopped giving
warm fuzzies to other people and reserved them for him.      

The children watched what was happening to Jim and Maggie and soon
began to get the idea that it was wrong to give up warm fuzzies every time
they were asked or felt like it. They too became careful, they would watch
their parents closely and whenever they felt that one of their parents was
giving too many fuzzies to others, they 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, and began to do
so 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 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 her potions and salves, even though they didn't work. 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, so she devised a new plan.       

The witch now gave everyone a bag which was very similar to the fuzzy bag
except that it was cold instead of being warm like the fuzzy bag. Inside the
witches 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 peoples backs from shrivelling up, so from then on, every time
somebody said "I want a warm fuzzy", people who were worried about
depleting their supply said "we can't give you a warm fuzzy but would you
like a cold prickly?" Sometimes two people would walk up to one another
thinking they could get a warm fuzzy but one or the other would change their
minds and they would end up giving each other cold pricklies.      

What was happening now was, that whilst very few people were actually
dying, a lot of people were still 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 now became very valuable. This caused people
to do all sorts of things in order to obtain warm fuzzies.       

Before the witch had appeared, people used to gather in groups of 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. If ever one of the two persons forgot 
himself and gave a warm fuzzy to someone else, he would immediately feel
guilty about it because he knew that his partner would probably resent the 
loss of the 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.      

Another thing which happened was that some people would take cold 
pricklies which were limitless and freely available and coat them white and 
fluffy and pass them on as warm fuzzies. These counterfeit warm fuzzies 
were really plastic fuzzies and caused additional difficulties. For instance, 
a few people would get together and freely exchange plastic fuzzies which 
presumably should make them feel good but they came away feeling bad 
from there.       

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 that they had been given a lot of plastic fuzzies.
The situation was very, very difficult and it all started because of the 
coming of the wicked witch, who made people believe that someday, when 
least expected, they might reach into their warm fuzzy bag and find no more 
fuzzies.       

Not long ago a young woman with big hips and who was born under the sign 
of Aquarius, came to this unhappy land. She had not heard about the 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 they should not worry 
about running out of warm fuzzies. The children liked her very much because 
they felt good around her and had begun to give out warm fuzzies whenever 
they felt like it.      

The grown-ups became very concerned and decided to pass a law to protect 
the children from depleting supplies of warm fuzzies. The law made it a 
criminal offence to give out warm fuzzies in a reckless manner. The children 
however, seemed not to care and in spite of the new 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 grown-ups, 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 grown-up forces of law 
and order stop the recklessness of the children? Are the grown-ups going to 
join with the hip-woman and the children in taking a 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?       

Source unknown