The Blind Mayor

Once, there was a village, where everyone loved one another, and all admired each other. All but one. This man, the Mayor, told his people time and again: "Don't you see, men? Don't you see? The baker cheats on his wife, the carpenter boy stole some apples from the grocery man just the other day. People are bad, and to love and admire them so is not only overestimating them, it is also highly dangerous. You are blind!"

Then one day, a fairy came to him, and told him she'd grant only one wish.

The mayor pondered this a few seconds, then said: "I wish that my people would have the blindness in their minds redirected into their eyes, so that those whose minds have not seen clearly before will be punished, but nevertheless healed, and those" (he thought of only himelf) "who have seen clearly all along will be joined by the rest."

No sooner had he finished than the world around him turned abruptly dark. He ran bewilderedly to the village square, guided only by his experience, and asked around: "Have you become blind? And you?" and all answered, "No, sir."

Then he climbed the statue of the Great Fairy in the center of the square (which he could no longer see), and shouted: "You have made me blind, people of this village! I am blind and you are not!" And he climbed down, and hugged a fellow at random, and gently said: "But I love you for it!"

And the village flourished for centuries to come.