Among the people of the country there began an interest in health-promoting foods. Many different theories were offered, telling what was best to eat and how and when to eat it. And with these theories came fierce loyalties, for eating is a very serious subject.

One man said, "Whole grains only, with fruit and nuts." His girlfriend added, "Vegetables and fruit don't mix." Her sister believed. "No vitamin C but lots of D and E,." and her cousin advised, "Fast one day out of every ten." The cousin's friend worked in a health food store and he said, "Minerals are the key," and every night he ground his teeth on a tablespoon of highly advertised garden soil, attractively packaged.

Some discovered miraculous healing properties in certain foods, and for a time there were shortages of figs, apricot kernels, seaweed and earthworms. One young man read that vitamins are trapped within the cells walls of foods and he began to prepare all of his meals with a blender. He blended wheat germ and flax seed with nonfat yogurt, goat cheese, kale and organic blueberries, and each of his meals came out a nutritious, gray glue.

Then the dietary habits became more exotic. One serious man learned that certain yogis can exist on air alone, and he tried it-for a time. And he had a close friend who learned of an ancient practice of turning the stomach inside-out to improve digestive secretions, but he was forced to stop when the neighbors complained of the unusual sounds.

Now the confusion was caused by the fact that many of the theories were a little bit true. And people changed from diet to diet and felt guilty because they continued to eat the things they liked. Yet their diet loyalties remained strong and, as these things go, each one believed his current diet to be the panacea for all mankind. And for all the nutrition debates heard throughout the land, the most heated and frequent was the question of vegetarian vs. meat.

One day a little Wise Man arrived in the city, dressed in a long, white robe. In the city park a crowd gathered around him and he was asked all manner of questions. He was asked about love, fate, stars, mind, soul and God. These questions and his answers stirred little controversy, but then a woman asked, "Should I eat meat?" and a hush fell over the crowd.

The Wise Man asked, "How do you feel when you eat meat?"

The woman thought about that for a moment, then said, "Well...not as good."

And the Wise Man replied, "Then don't eat it." And there was a murmur of approval from the vegetarians in the crowd.

Then a man responded with, "I like meat, and I feel fine when I eat it."

And the Wise Man replied, "Fine, then eat it." And there was a murmur of approval from the meat-eaters. Then the crowd became agitated and the debate started anew.

Just then the Wise Man started to laugh. At first it was just a chuckle that softened the serious crowd so that several grinning faces were seen. The sight of the little Wise Man, sitting on his dais, laughing, was so infectious that the crowd began to laugh with him. And, as so often happens, there was one among the crowd who had an especially funny laugh, and this so tickled the Wise Man that he began to shake with laughter and he nearly fell off his little platform. And this so pleased the crowd that an enormous peal of laughter arose and echoed through the park. Passersby, without knowledge of what had caused it, were so affected by the pleasing sound that they stopped and could not help joining in, until a great throng of laughing people had gathered.

The sight and sound of so many people enjoying themselves made the Wise Man...well, it went on and on until not one among them could remember having such a good time. But the nicest thing of all was, on that day nobody had indigestion.