Expectations

In The Shepherd of Hermas (Sim. 5.2), the Shepherd shares with the ever-dense Hermas a parable of a slave whose master leaves on a trip shortly after planting a vineyard. He commands the slave to fence in the vineyard and says he will give him his freedom if he does so. The slave then puts up the fence, but notices that there are a bunch of weeds in the vineyard, so he takes some initiative and pulls up the weeds as well.

I think it says something about the particular way I was formed in the Judeo-Christian tradition that my first thought on reading up to this point was, “Oh shit, the master’s going to be so pissed when he comes back.”