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Innocent Cyril Okwuchukwu (@admin) |
A Short Moral Stor
There was a boy who was always cheerful and happy. One day, he went to a wise old man and said to him
"I'm very happy, naturally. And I don't ever want to lose my happiness. Can you tell me some happiness-destroying habits I should avoid?"
The wise old man paused for a moment and sai
"Oh, yes, I can. But before that, I have a little task for you. Once you have performed this little task for me, I'm going to teach you what you need to know"
The boy whistled, smilin
"What's the task, pa?
The old man replie
"I have an empty barrel in my backyard, and I want you to fill it up with water. I'll reward you with three coins once you're done. You'll have money to buy something for yourself. Three coins, all for you, boy!".
The boy became very excited as he was greatly in need of money. He took a bucket and rushed down to the stream to fetch water. After some minutes, he told the old man he had filled up the barrel. The old man sai
"Oh, I forgot there's another empty barrel in the kitchen. Would you mind filling it up as well? I'll offer you another three coins, that's a total of six coins. You'll buy a lot of things for yourself with that money. Six coins, all for you, boy!".
At that moment, the boy was determined to earn six coins. He hurriedly left for the stream, and in a short while, he filled up the barrel with water. When he went back to the old man, the man said.
"Oh my goodness, I'm such a forgetful old man. I didn't remember there's another empty barrel in my garden. If you can fill it up with water, I'll add three coins to your six coins, and you'll get nine coins altogether. Imagine what you'll buy with such amount of money. Nine coins, all for you, young lad!"
A look of cheerful excitement flashed across the boy's face. He found himself thinking about what he would do with nine coins. It didn't take him long to fill up the third barrel. Then he went back to the old man. However, instead of handing him the coins, the old man exclaimed
"Oh no, I just realized I don't have any money on me. I am broke and I don't have any coin to give to you. I'm so sorry"
Upon hearing that, the smile on the boy's face suddenly disappeared, leaving it gloomy and dull. He became unhapp
Just then, the old man began to smile, and surprisingly, he said
"Don't worry, boy, I've got some coins for you. Remember when you asked me to tell you some habits that can destroy a person's happiness? Well, it may surprise you to know that everything I did was an intention to make you unhappy. In this way, I believe I can teach you properly. Listen up, boy... expectations are the real enemy of happiness. Just like how you expected nine coins from me, but became sad when you didn't get it. When we do something for someone, we tend to expect some favour or feelings from them which may not happen. Most of the time, our expectations are too high or unrealistic to be fulfilled by someone. We expect people to love us because we love them. We expect people to be good to us because we are good to them. We expect things to go our way. All of these things can easily cause frustration, disappointment, discouragement, stress, anger and resentment. However, if we lower our expectations of people and understand that they won't always live up to it, we can be happier in life"
Author: Chima_Dickson Officia
