Young Boy
A young boy was walking along a road one day when he spotted a Copper penny shining in the dust. He picked it up and clutched it with excitement. A penny was his, and it had cost him nothing!
From that day on, wherever he walked, he kept his head down, his eyes closely surveying the ground for more pennies — and perhaps ever greater treasure. During his lifetime, he found more money to be sure.
In fact, he collected 302 pennies, 24 nickels, 41 dimes, eight quarters, three half-dollar pieces and one worn-out paper dollar…a total of $12.82. He kept his treasure safe, protecting it as a “free legacy” of wealth. He delighted in the fact that the money had cost him nothing.
Or had it? In the course of scouting out his treasure, he had missed seeing the full beauty of 35,127 sunsets, the splendor of 327 rainbows, the beauty of white clouds floating overhead in crystal blue skies, bird soaring, squirrels hopping from branch to branch in the trees above the paths on which he walked, the brilliance of autumn leaves fluttering against a backdrop of autumn sunshine. What he had acquired — all $12.82 — certainly wasn’t equal to what he had missed.
-Richmond Shepard