Once an old man was sitting at the entrance of a town. A
young man approached him and said: "I am not from here. I come
from far. Tell me old man, how are the people of this town?"
Instead of replying to him, the old man asked back: "And
in the town from where you come, how were the people?"
The young man, responding temperamentally, blurted, "Egotistic
and wicked, so much so that I could no longer take it. That is why
I preferred to leave!"
The old man said sympathetically: "Pity, my dear. I
shall advise you to continue on your way. People here are equally
wicked and all are egotistic."
A little later, another young man approached the same old
man and said: "Greetings to you who is wise with age! I should
like to settle down in this place. Tell me, how are the people who
live in this town?"
And, the old man asked him: "Tell me first, where from
do you come, and how were the people there?"
The young man said in an enthusiastic voice: "Honest,
good, and welcoming! I had only friends there, and oh how I was
pained to leave them!"
The old man said:"Well, here, you will also find only
honest people, welcoming, and full of kindness."
A merchant who was watering his camels not far from these
exchanges and had heard all, asked the old man: "How is it
possible, old man, who I know to be wise, to give two truthful,
but diametrically opposite, replies to the same question? Is it
a case of April Fools?"
"My son," said the old man, "Each one carries,
in his heart, his own universe. And, that is what he will find every
place he goes." (** or, "Therefore, regardless where he
goes, that will always be what he finds."
Open your heart and your outlook, when encountering others
and life's experiences, and the world shall change...
"Peace comes from within. Do not look for it outside."---Buddha
Siddartha Gautama
