Chakotay in “Unfinished Business”

Chakotay

There's a story I heard as a child, a parable. I never forgot it. A scorpion was walking along the bank of a river, wondering how to get to the other side, when suddenly he saw a fox. He asked the fox to take him on his back across the river. The fox said, No, I'll get halfway there, and you'll sting me, and I'll drown. But the scorpion assured him, If I did that, we'd both drown. The fox thought about it and finally agreed. So the scorpion climbed up on his back, and the fox began to swim. But halfway across the river, the scorpion stung the fox. As the poison filled his veins, the fox turned to the scorpion and said, Why did you do that? Now you'll drown, too. I couldn't help it, said the scorpion. It's my nature.