seal of approval


Everyone has seen something that is supposed to be of high quality that has been stamped with a seal of approval. People all the time in order to sign off on something that is in thier opinion good or worthwhile will get thier seal of approval. People will look to other people for thier seal of apporval on things and will go out of thier way to aquire that particular product based solely on that recomendation. Have you ever stopped to think where the term seal of approval comes from? Let me tell you where it comes from if I might so bold as to assume that you would like for me to do so.
First, to tell you the story I must tell of a place called Islandia. Islandia is an island that was home to a very friendly people. The weather there was always nice with a nice trade wind that kept it warm enough so you wouldn't need heat in the winter and cool enough that you wouldn't run up the electricity bill in the summer. Most crops that were worth eating would grow year round and there was no need to import anything because all the things that the islanders needed was right there in Islandia.
Like any place on Earth, Islandia was given to an occasional anomally. One day there was a commotion down by the ocean. A lot of islanders had gathered around one particular spot and were creating quite a scene. Everyone on Islandia had heard about this scene in very short fashion and had to come around to take a look. In fact even the mayor of Islandia took time out of his busy day to come down and see what all the commotion was about. There in the middle of all the crowd of people the mayor came face to face with something they had never seen before in Islandia..... a seal.
The seal looked like any other seal that you or I would see, but the thing was noone on Islandia had ever seen a seal before in person. They did not have a zoo like most places that are worldly bound. Without need to import and export products, the islanders had become so self sufficient that they had segregated themselves from the rest of the world. Noone knew what to make of the seal. All they knew was that they had a seal on thier hands and they had to try to take care of it. quickly the name Evruvius was given to the seal and everyone fell instntly in love with it.
Evruvius would waddle all around town and visit in with everyone and everyone was always glad to see him. They quickly found out that he liked fish very much and most shop keepers took to keeping fish in thier stores just in case he came by. Evruivius wanted for nothing as the whole town loved and doted on him. There was no need to find shelter for him as the weather was always so fair that he slept soundly under the stars every night and ate heartily every day.
One day in the middle of the town square two farmers were arguing over who had the best cow. a crowd gathered and everyone listened to the argument, but could not make up thier own mind as to which cow was better as they both were of fine Islandia quality. The argument grew more heated and the crowd grew even larger as the two pointed out the finer qualities of thier own animals and the lesser points of the others animal. In from the crowd came Evruvius and everyone became quiet as the seal waddled around both cows looking them over with a sharp eye. After what seemed like a long time, Evruivius patted one of the cows on the side and honked letting everyone know that this was the better cow. Everyone looked closer at the two cows and they had to agree with the seal that the cow Evruvius picked was the better of the two cows. a mild but pleasant bewilderment came across the crowd.
As the months went on Evruvius was asked to judge other things in the town and everytime they found that he did pick out the better of the two options. The town had a plaque made up to be given to the places that were picked by Evruvius and the store owners hung them with pride. It became the one thing that people looked for whenever they went out to buy thier necessities. Stores that did not have the approval of Evruvius would spend as much time and money as necessary to make sure that they got the approval back over another store.
One day an outsider came to visit Islandia. As he remarked on how nice the place was he had to ask why there was so many signs witha picture of a seal hanging on front of stores. The answer given was that these were the stores that had gained approval of the seal Evruvius. Amazed that the town would care so much about a seal's approval he checked in to each of the stores both with and without the seal's approval. He had to agree in every instance that the stores that met with Evruvius' approval were much better stores. He was determined to bring this back to his own country to help out consumers.
Back in his home country the use of seals was wide spread, but used for such things as sealing envelopes and branding something that it belongs to one person rather than another. When descibed to the others in his home country of the seal's approval, they instantly began using a seal to represent the seal Evruvius and cast tha seal in gold to be stamped on any product that was considered better than others. Before long the idea of Evruius was lost, but the legacy lives on every time that someone stamps something with thier own personal seal of approval.

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