A Road of Leather
Once upon a time, there lived a king who ruled a happy and prosperous kingdom. The people of the kingdom were very happy and lived a life with an abundance of wealth and misfortune.
One day the king decided to travel and visit various places in his kingdom. He visited various historical and pilgrim centers in his kingdom. He went to distant and remote places that his chariot couldn’t reach, so the king visited many of those sites on foot.
Traversing long distances on foot was a wonderful experience for the king. He got to interact with his people and learned about their lives and problems.
Many people were very happy to meet the king and expressed how they were very happy under his rule. But, the king wasn’t used to long walks. He got severe pain in his leg. He could not tolerate the pain as he walked all the way through the rough path.
He complained to his ministers that the roads weren’t comfortable and were very stony. The king also expressed his concerns for the people who had to walk along those roads every day.
For the convenience of the people, the king ordered to cover all the roads in his kingdom with leather. The king believed that this will make his people’s life more convenient.
The ministers were stunned to hear the absurd order from the king.
Not only was the king’s fantasy of having the leather pathway expensive. it would destroy the lives of many cattle to get sufficient leather.
A wise king’s advisor came to the king and said that he had a better idea. He took the size of the king’s feet and made nice comfortable leather shoes. He made the king wear those shoes and walk on the rough paths.
The king admired the comfortable leather shoes as he did not feel any pain walking on them. The king applauded the genius idea that saved money and thousands of cattle lives.
Moral: Many of us criticize the world for many things. The desire to change the world sounds very heroic and noble and grand. We blame the things around us for the struggles in our life and never remember to look inside our-self. Changes are inevitable in the world, and the changes should be from us. Remember, it’s not the world that needs to change, it’s ourselves
Alan /|\