A young man named John received a parrot as a gift. The parrot had a
bad attitude and an even worse vocabulary. Every word out of the bird's
mouth was rude, obnoxious, and laced with profanity.
John tried and tried to change the bird's attitude by consistently
saying only polite words, playing soft music, and anything else he
could think of to 'clean up' the bird's vocabulary.
Finally, John was fed up, and he yelled at the parrot. The parrot
yelled back. John shook the parrot, and the parrot got angrier and even
ruder.
John, in desperation, threw up his hand, grabbed the bird, and put him
in the freezer. For a few minutes the parrot squawked and kicked and
screamed.
Then suddenly there was total quiet. Not a peep was heard for over a
minute. Fearing that he'd hurt the parrot, John quickly opened the door
to the freezer.
The parrot calmly stepped out onto John's outstretched arms and said,
'I believe I may have offended you with my rude language and actions.
I'm sincerely remorseful for my inappropriate transgressions and I
fully intend to do everything I can to correct my rude and unforgivable
behavior.'
John was stunned at the change in the bird's attitude. As he was about
to ask the parrot what had made such a dramatic change in his behavior,
the bird continued, 'May I ask what the turkey did?'