| It seems to
me that many people go through life
without ever pondering questions such as “What's it all about?” “Why am
I here?” “What is life?” “When I die, will I cease to be or will I continue
to be, but in a different place and in a different form?”
Then one day it's all over. And it's too late
to ponder such questions. And in looking back, the notion arises that it
was all an exercise in futility. Pointless. Without purpose.
Let's see if I can illustrate for you what
I'm trying to say by telling you a little story. It's about two jewelers
named George and Henry.
One day while visiting George in his shop,
Henry saw a ring that struck his fancy. Asking the price, he was told 100
dollars. Without any attempt to bargain — although to this day he doesn't
know why — he paid George the 100 dollars and left.
Immediately, given that Henry had not tried
to negotiate a lower price, George decided that the ring had to be worth
more than 100 dollars. Leaving his shop in his wife's care, he hurried
over to Henry's. There he found the ring priced at 200 dollars. Which he
paid and left. Now Henry became suspicious. The ring had to be worth more.
So he went to George's shop and bought it back for 300 dollars.
This went on for weeks. One day, when Henry
had gone to George's shop to again buy back the ring, he couldn't find
it anywhere in George's display case. When he asked George about the ring,
George replied that he had sold it.
“Sold it!”, Henry shouted with chagrin and
agitation, “How could you do such a thing? We were both making such
a good living from it.”
End of story.
Think about it. |
