One of the assertions that undergirds the CRSJ counselling model is that all counselling is values-based. We cannot escape our values; however, we can shape, evolve, and selectively express our values in the best interests of our clients. In many cultures, values are transmitted through storytelling. In this exercise, a parable is introduced as a medium to help you to examine how values influence your work as multicultural counsellors. Please read the parable carefully.

Rosemary is a girl of about 21 years of age. For several months she has been engaged to a young man—let’s call him, Geoffrey. The problem she faces is that between her and her betrothed lies a river. No ordinary river, mind you, but a deep, wide river infested with hungry crocodiles.

Rosemary ponders how she can cross the river. She thinks of a man she knows who has a boat. We’ll call him Sinbad. So, she approaches Sinbad, asking him to take her across. He replies, “Yes, I’ll take you across if you spend the night with me.” Shocked at this offer, she turns to another acquaintance, a certain Frederick, and tells him her story. Fredrick responds by saying, “Yes, Rosemary, I understand your problem, but it’s your problem, not mine.” Rosemary decides to return to Sinbad, spends the night with him, and in the morning, he takes her across the river.

Her reunion with Geoffrey is warm. But on the evening before they are to be married, Rosemary feels compelled to tell Geoffrey how she succeeded in getting across the river. Geoffrey responds by saying, “I wouldn’t marry you if you were the last woman on earth.”

Finally, at her wits’ end, Rosemary turns to our last character, Armondo. Armondo listens to her story and says, “Well, Rosemary, I don’t love you, but I will marry you.”

And that’s all we know of the story.

Note. Versions of this story are widely available on the Internet; however, this version was adapted from “A manual of structured experiences for cross-cultural learning” by W. H. Weeks, P. B. Pedersen, and R. W. Brislin (Eds.), 1979, Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural Press.

Use this Parable template to list the characters, starting with the name of the character whose behaviour you approve of the most through to the character whose behaviour you approve of the least. Then, add 2–3 words each to describe the behaviours, attributes, and values that you associate with each character and that led you to assign your rankings. The parable is deliberately vague, so try not to self-censor. The point is to act upon your own assumptions and cultural lenses.

Then, engage together in debriefing this activity. You may choose any of the following prompts as a starting point for dialogue.

• What have you learned from reading about the reactions of other students to the characters?
• How might ethnicity, as represented by individual’s names, have played into perceptions of the characters? What are the implications for your own assumptions and biases?
• What values may be related to gendered behaviour, particularly given that the main character is female and the other characters in the story are male? What if the roles of Rosemary and Geoffrey were switched?
• What might have happened if the names and genders of the characters were changed or gender-neutral language was used? How might this change your impressions of the characters?
• What insights does this exercise provide you into your own values? What are the implications for counselling practice?

Towards the end of the discussion, identify the overriding lesson that you consider to be the most important for CRSJ counselling? Try phrasing it by starting with the following: “For me, the moral of the story is . . . ”

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