parable fun

my in-laws are driving me insane with their procrastinating about moving to Cleveland. They've been unemployed for more than a month and have barely packed anything. Their health insurance runs out in the middle of August and Ohio allows insurance companies to deny coverage for pre-existing conditions if there is more than a 30 day lapse of insurance.  My 57 year old barely-English-speaking, no-high-school-diploma mother-in-law is on several prescriptions, including high blood pressure medication, but doesn't see the rush in getting her rear in gear to get here and start looking for a job (never mind that it took her as-clear-as-native-English-speaking college educated younger son more than 6 months to find a job in his field and I don't know if that even had health insurance).  I feel like I'm pounding my head against a brick wall.  So here's a parable.

There were two families who lived on either side of a windy mountain.  Near the top of the mountain on either side were large boulders, resting just feet from the edge of a steep cliff, at the bottom of which were the homes of the families.  The family on the west side of the mountain took turns going up the mountain every day to push their boulder the little bit that they could away from the edge of the cliff.  It only moved about a tiny fraction of an inch every day, barely further back than the wind moved it forward, but still the family persisted.  The family on the east side of the mountain watched the western family do this and thought they were tremendously silly, and the easterners continued on their daily activities as if there were no boulder, including going on a big vacation to the far west that they'd been planning. 

While the easterners were away, the region was struck by a massive earthquake.  The mountain shook and there were several avalanches of various sizes.  The family to the west had some minor damage to their house, and the easterners pointed out how like anxious busy bees the westerners looked as the easterners passed them on their way home from their vacation.  Their mocking stopped, however, when they arrived back to their side of the mountain where, instead of their home they saw a pile of rocks, the largest in the center that they had ignored while it was on top of the mountain.  They wailed and lamented their fate, and the western family felt bad for them but they knew there was little they could do for people who wouldn't do for themselves.

*bangs head on desk repeatedly*