What You Find Everyplace You Go

BLOG by Karen Offord

4th November 2014

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 away. Tell me, old man, how are the people of this town?

Instead of replying, the old man asked, “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, young man. 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 old man. “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?”

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 had heard all and 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 everyplace he goes.” 

Author Unknown...

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