Once upon a time, a king had a great highway built for the people who lived in his kingdom. After it was completed, but before it was opened to the public, the king decided to have a contest.
He invited as many of his subjects as desired to participate. The challenge was to see who could travel the highway the best, and the winner was to receive a box of gold.
On the day of the contest, all the people came. Some of them had fine chariots, some had fine clothing and fancy food to make the trip a luxurious journey.
Some wore their sturdiest shoes and ran along the highway on their feet to show their skill. All day they traveled the highway, and each one, when he arrived at the end, complained to the king about a large pile of rocks and debris that had been left almost blocking the road at one point, and hindering their travel.
At the end of the day, a lone traveler crossed the finish line warily and walked over to the king. He was tired and dirty, but he addressed the king with great respect and handed him a small chest of gold. He said, “I stopped along the way to clear a pile of rocks and debris that was blocking the road. This chest of gold was under it. Please have it returned to its rightful owner.”
The king replied, “You are the rightful owner.”
“Oh no,” said the traveler, “This is not mine. I’ve never known such money.”
“Oh yes,” said the king, “you’ve earned this gold, for you won my contest. He who travels the road best is he who makes the road better for those who will follow.”
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Happy Memorial Day, everyone :)
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Honor those who have given their lives for our Freedom.
Nice story. That’s a great lesson.
Leave things better than the way you met them. You are helped in order to help others. When a door is opened for you to pass through, remember to open it for others to also pass through, don’t shut it against others.
You know it, brother :)
This is a good thing to learn early on in life bc it’s abt how those who serve get great rewards. Happy Memorial Day, everybody.
Great story, certainly those men and women who died serving our nation left the road better for us than it would have been. My dad fought in WWII and while he was injured and partially disabled for the rest of his life he never complained about the price he paid. Except to comment sometimes when we were fishing in the winter that those missing fingers were always the ones that felt the cold the most. He truly made the road better for his family.
Yes he did!! And now we get to be inspired by him – thank you!
Great lesson, thanks for sharing. We need a lot more people like the young man in the story.
Dr. Cory S. Fawcett
Prescription for Financial Success
Great story, especially on a day when we honor so many who have sacrificed to make our road better. Thank you!
Nice story. It seems more and more difficult to help improve the road these days. Everyone from our president on down is looking out for themselves.
True – but no one can take away our own desires to do good! We all make the choice day in and day out to add value or take it away from the world…
The key things in this post are to recognize that a traveler is blessed. Those that are willing to leave their normal 9-5 existence, both in financial terms but also in geographic restraint, are the true winners here. If you never leave your home country and roam, you never get to discover the buried treasure and interact with Kings. If I can take anything from this parable it is that the life experiences are out there – we must all find our way to be unconstrained and go seek out our destinies. Not in some local habit but in a way that make us all better adjusted, better experienced and that our life truly has a story to be told.
Well I didn’t see that takeaway coming, haha, but I like it…
Thanks for stopping by and sharing :)
A lesson many should read! Miss you J$ – shall be in touch soon. Moving mom and Dad this week.
Oh yay!! I miss you too – I hope it all goes okay!
Such a great reminder to us all and very fitting on today. Thanks for sharing, J!
You’re very welcome!
I’m glad you enjoyed it!
What a great reminder! We all matter and we all can do good….pass it on!
What a great story! It’s well told and has a wise message. If you don’t like something and you can change it, then do so. Your actions just might pay off big, too. ;o)