The Old Man and His Shoe
One day an old man boarded a bus. As he was going up the steps,
one of his shoes slipped off. The door closed and the bus moved
off so he was unable to retrieve it. The old man calmly took off
his other shoe and threw it out of the window.
A young man on the bus saw what happened, and could not help
going up to the old man and asking, "I noticed what you did, sir.
Why did you throw out your other shoe?"
The old man promptly replied, "So that whoever finds them will
be able to use them." The old man in the story understood a
fundamental philosophy for life - do not hold on to something
simply for the sake of possessing it or because you do not wish
others to have it.
We lose things all the time. The loss may seem to us grievous
and unjust initially, but loss only happens so that positive
changes can occur in our lives. We should not always assume that
losing something is bad, because if things do not shift, we'll
never become better people or experience better things. That's
not to say of course that we only lose "bad" things; it simply
means that in order for us to mature emotionally and spiritually,
and for us to contribute to the world, the interchange between
loss and gain is necessary.
Like the old man in the story, we have to learn to let go. The
world had decided that it was time for the old man to lose his
shoe. Maybe this happened to add momentum to a series of events
leading to a better pair of shoes for the old man. Maybe the
sea! rch for another pair of shoes would lead the old man to a
great benefactor. Maybe the world decided that someone else
needed the shoes more.
Whatever the reason, we can't avoid losing things. The old man
understood this. One of his shoes had gone out of his reach. The
remaining shoe would not have been much help to him, but it would
be a cherished gift to a homeless person desperately in need of
protection from the ground.
Hoarding possessions does nothing to make us or the world better.
We all have to decide constantly if some things or people have
run their course in our lives or would be better off with others.
We then have to muster the courage to give them away.
One day an old man boarded a bus. As he was going up the steps,
one of his shoes slipped off. The door closed and the bus moved
off so he was unable to retrieve it. The old man calmly took off
his other shoe and threw it out of the window.
A young man on the bus saw what happened, and could not help
going up to the old man and asking, "I noticed what you did, sir.
Why did you throw out your other shoe?"
The old man promptly replied, "So that whoever finds them will
be able to use them." The old man in the story understood a
fundamental philosophy for life - do not hold on to something
simply for the sake of possessing it or because you do not wish
others to have it.
We lose things all the time. The loss may seem to us grievous
and unjust initially, but loss only happens so that positive
changes can occur in our lives. We should not always assume that
losing something is bad, because if things do not shift, we'll
never become better people or experience better things. That's
not to say of course that we only lose "bad" things; it simply
means that in order for us to mature emotionally and spiritually,
and for us to contribute to the world, the interchange between
loss and gain is necessary.
Like the old man in the story, we have to learn to let go. The
world had decided that it was time for the old man to lose his
shoe. Maybe this happened to add momentum to a series of events
leading to a better pair of shoes for the old man. Maybe the
sea! rch for another pair of shoes would lead the old man to a
great benefactor. Maybe the world decided that someone else
needed the shoes more.
Whatever the reason, we can't avoid losing things. The old man
understood this. One of his shoes had gone out of his reach. The
remaining shoe would not have been much help to him, but it would
be a cherished gift to a homeless person desperately in need of
protection from the ground.
Hoarding possessions does nothing to make us or the world better.
We all have to decide constantly if some things or people have
run their course in our lives or would be better off with others.
We then have to muster the courage to give them away.
i like this story
