A Little Story

What is the goal of your life? What is it that you dream of accomplishing? How does that effect the way you live?
There is an old old story about a young man who left home for lands far away, looking for his dream.

As a boy he always felt that their was something missing in his life as he was from a poor family. He was sure that their was a place that he could go where he could find happiness. So he set out to find his fortune.
His first stop was the biggest city in the nation. Here he worked hard for the owner of many stores. This man promised him he would see fame and fortune.
As time went by the boy learned an important lesson. The only fame and fortune that he would see for his hard work was the fame and fortune of the greedy man.
So he left the city to find his way somewhere else. As he traveled he thought about the things that he learned from the greedy man in the city. He was grateful for the things he learned during his stay in the city and he no worse off now then he was before he left his home.
He eventually came to a village. In this village he noticed that their were no stores. An old man traveled thru the village regularly with a wagon of goods for the people to buy.  The boy helped the old man fix his wagon wheel one day. For his effort the old man gave him a job traveling and selling his goods.
Because the boy could carry more the wealth of the man and the boy both grew. The boy released that the old man was getting weak and he was doing all the work so together they opened a store in the village. The old man ran the store and the boy travelled with the wagon and continued to gain wealth.
As time went by he found others who could run stores for him in other villages. He hired them with promises that they would see wealth and fame. He became one of the wealthiest men in the land.
He began to use the money to acquire the things he wanted and more. The more wealth he received the more he wanted. Eventually he started to work his laborers harder and harder for the money he wanted.  Ignoring the things and people that he saw around him.
When he decided that he had more then he could ever spend he did not let up, but he did begin to once again search the world for the happiness that he left boyhood home for, those many long years ago.
During his journeys he saw many poor and destitute people. This made him feel sad, but he laughed and ridiculed them. He believed that if he could rise from poverty everyone could, and should.
The man spent years searching the world looking for happiness. All he found was a deeper loneliness and a greater need for money.
He spoke to all the sages and mystics he could find. All they could give him were stories and myths of ideas long past. Mostly they told him that a path of poverty would lead him to happiness.
He had been there and knew that this idea was not true. When he tired of these journeys, he decided to visit his mother and the village of his youth. He went home a lonely, cynical, bitter man.
As he entered the village of his youth he could not help but think that his village had not changed a bit. The poverty that he knew as a child was still evident in the dirty streets. The eyes of young and old alike had the hollow look of defeat. Only the babies were showing a glimmer of hope in their eyes. The oldest seemed to be waiting for the sweet rest only death could offer.
When he saw his mother for the first time in all those years, he could not believe how haggard and weak she looked. He wept.
She did not, she looked at her son with joy and pride in her eyes. She never thought about the letters she never received or the presents he never sent.  Only the joy of his arms wrapped around her and the warmth of his tears on her shoulder.
It was at this time that his thoughts went back to the words of the mystics. He began to think of a way to give away his money to the poor of his village and live a simple life with his mother and family.
When he told his mother his plan she was shocked and dismayed. She immediately went to the neighbors and brought back a boy and introduced him to her son.
As the boy and her son talked the rich man realized how much this boy was the same as he was as a youth. This child had so much hope that he could soon leave the village and find happiness in the big city.
It was now the rich mans turn to be shocked as he understood that he had become the greedy rich man that he first worked for. He knew that his quest had turned to a grab for money and the perceived power that came with it. He had lost his way.
When he saw the look of joy on his mothers face, he asked her what she wanted him to do. She explained that he had forgotten his quest, but his desires had not changed. He could still find happiness. He had received his wealth to achieve his noble goals.
He began to think, he had forgotten the beautiful things that money cannot buy.
As he walked down the street one afternoon he saw an old man and his daughter selling junk in the street. They told him that they found things that others discarded and repaired them. The rich man was moved and bought the whole wagon. The young girl hugged and thanked him.
She told him that they could now afford to buy the tools needed to work. Her father was a handyman and had come on bad times.
When he heard this he asked them to do some repairs on his mothers house. It was his turn to be shocked again as the light of hope glowed in the old mans eyes at this request.
As the rich man was walking home he realized that there was a real joy in his heart. For the first time in his life he knew true happiness. He knew what he was meant to do.
From that moment on he began to ask everyone in the village what they did for a living and found a way to get them work or hire them. Soon they had the most beautiful village in all the land. People came from all over to experience the beauty and culture the village had to offer.
But the real story is what happened to the rich man. As he spent his money hiring and helping his neighbors, he began to find more happiness in every thing he did.
His wealth continued to grow as did the wealth of everyone in his village.
After traveling the world over the young boy, now an older man, knew what so few ever discover. The true happiness in life is not what you get but what you give. You cannot find happiness, you Create happiness. You create happiness by creating it for others.
What is the goal of your life? What is it that you dream of accomplishing? How does that effect the way you live?






I am not here to help you become a good manager, a good spouse or a good parent. I am not even going to help you become a good follower.
What I hope, is to inspire you to become a good person. The kind of person who feels the joy that only comes from knowing yourself. The kind of person who is always happy. Good times and bad!
My hope is that I can inspire you to search your heart and find the main goals in your life. You should be the best person you can be.
My dream is that you should dream big dreams. Dreams of growing you self. Dreams of bringing  happiness to everyone you meet.
The effect this will have on the way you live can only be measured by the love and happiness that it creates in your life and the lives of all those that you touch. In return you can become the good follower, the good parent, the good spouse and the good leader.
God bless!