Inspirational stories
One day, a woman leaving her home discovered three elderly men standing on the doormat. The three had long white beards and looked as old as the world. Since she did not know them, the woman said to them, ‘I don’t think I know you, what are you doing standing there on my doormat?
Written by Emeric Liberton, Mark Oliver Goldman | Posted on 07/21/04 at 22:45
The three men answered in unison, “We are hungry, do you have anything to offer us to eat.” »
The woman looked at them with a look of surprise and then replied in a soft and lively voice: “Yes, of course!”
This woman was generous and her three men piqued her curiosity. “Come on, I’ll fix you up.”
At these words, the three old men stiffened and added. “However, the three of us never enter a house at the same time.”
And why? asked the surprised woman. Those three great-grandfathers were very strange. An old man explained to him:
“My friend’s name is Wealth, he is Success and I am Love. So you must decide which of the three of us you will let into your house first.”
The woman was puzzled. She wanted to take advice from her husband, who stayed inside the house. I showed him the situation and asked for his opinion. “What a gift from God,” he said! “Wealth, success and love are knocking on our doors at the same time. Hurry up and get the fortune before he changes his mind. My wife thought. “My husband, why don’t we call success instead?” she asked. Their daughter, who was in an adjoining room, overheard their conversation. As she wanted Giving her opinion.”Shouldn’t we invite love first?” Thus, our house will be filled with love and we will be happy!”
Husband and wife trusted their daughter, who was a well-behaved child. So the woman went back down and asked for love to come. “Love, it was decided, you are our guest!” Love entered the house. The other two elderly men followed him and entered in turn.
The woman was surprised. Wealth and Success asked: “I only invited love. Why do you come in too? I thought the three of you had never been to the same house.
The old men answered him in unison: “If you had invited wealth or success, the other two would have been out, but since you invited love wherever it goes, we go with it. You know, madam, where there is love, there is also wealth and success!!! »
***
Although it seems light and entertaining, this story delivers an essential message: the greatest fortunes and resounding successes are worth nothing if they are not shared. It is difficult to imagine happiness that we could live “in solitude”, selfishly: this is not the lot of man. By conceiving the other, the individual can only be fulfilled within the framework of pluralism, which begins with carving out a place for itself in society. This is the human challenge to achieve individual fulfillment while integrating those he loves into his environment.
An excerpt from 50 Inspirational Stories to Be Happy (2018).