Have a Good Day

One day, the teacher and a student were walking on the road when a man came rushing out of the bushes directly toward them. The teacher stopped and, reaching into his pocket, said, "Hello, stranger. Today's your lucky day! I'd like to gift you with my wallet and my watch!"

The man was stunned at this response, but he snatched the teacher's wallet and watch and then ran away into the woods. The teacher called after him, "Friend, no need to run. Those were gifts. Have a good day, for I certainly am!"

Even more stunned was the student, who asked, "Teacher, why did you give that man your wallet and watch, and why did he run away with out even saying thank you? Was he a robber?"

"He would have been," the teacher chuckled with great delight. "Remember. It's always better to give something away before it's taken away from you."

One moment life is like Santa Claus, and the next it's like Jessie James! Life both gives gifts and robs us of those gifts. Aging and Time hide and lie in wait for us along the highway of life, threatening to steal any of the abundant gifts that are ours, whether wealth or good health, hearing or sight, ease of physical movement or even the greatest of all gifts, life itself. Happy are those who, with great delight, give life's gifts away freely instead of having them taken away in a violent struggle.

– Anonymous

December 10, 2006