ACRES
OF DIAMONDS
There was a
farmer in Africa who was happy and content. He was happy because he was
content. He was
content
because he was happy. One day a wise man came to him and told him about the
glory of diamonds and
the power
that goes along with them. The wise man said, "If you had a diamond the
size of your thumb, you
could have
your own city. If you had a diamond the size of your fist, you could probably
own your own country."
And then he
went away. That night the farmer couldn't sleep. He was unhappy and he was
discontent. He was
unhappy
because he was discontent and discontent because he was unhappy.
The next
morning he made arrangements to sell off his farm, took care of his family and
went in search of
diamonds. He
looked all over Africa and couldn't find any. He looked all through Europe and
couldn't find any.
When he got
to Spain, he was emotionally, physically and financially broke. He got so
disheartened that he threw
himself into
the Barcelona River and committed suicide.
Back home,
the person who had bought his farm was watering the camels at a stream that ran
through the farm.
Across the
stream, the rays of the morning sun hit a stone and made it sparkle like a
rainbow. He thought it would
look good on
the mantle piece. He picked up the stone and put it in the living room. That
afternoon the wise man
came and saw
the stone sparkling. He asked, "Is Hafiz back?" The new owner said,
"No, why do you ask?" The
wise man
said, "Because that is a diamond. I recognize one when I see one."
The man said, no, that's just a
stone I
picked up from the stream. Come, I'll show you. There are many more." They
went and picked some
samples and
sent them for analysis. Sure enough, the stones were diamonds. They found that
the farm was
indeed
covered with acres and acres of diamonds.*
What is the
moral of this story?
There are
five morals:
1. When our
attitude is right, we realize that we are all walking on acres and acres of
diamonds.
• Attributed
to Dr Russel Conwell .
•
Opportunity is always under our feet. We don't have to go anywhere. All we need
to do is recognize it.
2. The grass
on the other side always looks greener.
3. While we
are dyeing the grass on the other side, there are others who are dyeing the
grass on our side. They
would be
happy to trade places with us.
4. When
people don't know how to recognize opportunity, they complain of noise when it
knocks.
5. The same
opportunity never knocks twice. The next one may be better or worse, but it is
never the same one.
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