The sad thing is that most JWs like to think of themselves as Jesus, and making deep meaningful 'parables' for all of the uninformed ones.
Their parables - or analogies usually sound silly if one really thinks about it.
In this one, the fella is mixing two different things - time and distance. Of course the average JW will not realize this and think the fella is a genius.
I got seperated from my first wife once, and a JW friend visited me to try to encourage me to go back to her (which I did, for another 20 years).
His 'parable' went something like this...
I had been working on building my very own 'personal' computer. This was back when the IBM PC wasn't 'born yet. I was building my computer from a kit. I was expanding it little by little, until it got to be too much, and the VIC-20 came along. I bought a used one, and transferred my interests in programming over to it.
Anyway... this 'elder' knew of my building my computer, and he started making his 'parable'...
(I'm paraphrasing it, as it was a very long time ago - but this is the gist of what he said.)
"You know, when you are building your computer, you just don't abandon it."
At this point, he was pointing to my little VIC-20 that was sitting on the table. I started grinning like a fool. He stopped, and asked me "What is it?"
"Nothing", I replied, knowing that I _had_ abandoned my first efforts at building a computer, in favor of one that was smaller and had more computing power than I could ever hope to squeeze out of my attempts. "...continue."
He continued, "Well, you work with what you have, and work to make it better."
I thanked him for his stopping by, and he left - not knowing that his 'parable' just proved my point, rather than his.
I'm sure that he used that same analogy when he went out to buy his next new car.
Thanks Karl.
Regards,
Jim TX