The Boy With Seashells

A 6 yr old boy was in the market with his 4 yr old sister. Suddenly the boy realized that his sister was lagging behind. He stopped and looked back. His sister was standing in front of a toy shop and was watching something with great interest.

The boy went back to her and asked, “Do you want something?” The sister pointed at the doll. The boy held her hand and like a responsible elder brother, gave that doll to her. The sister was very very happy. The shopkeeper was watching everything and getting amused to see how nice the boy was to his sister. The boy came to the counter and asked the shopkeeper, “How much does this doll cost, Sir?”

The shopkeeper was a kind man and had experienced difficult times in his life. So he asked the boy with a lot of love & affection, “Well, What can you pay?” The boy took out all 6 shells in his pocket that he had collected from the seashore. He gave them to the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper took the shells and started counting as if he were counting money. Then he looked at the boy. The boy asked him worriedly, “Is it enough?”

The shopkeeper said, “No, No… These are more than the cost. He kept only 4 shells with him and returned the remaining 2. The boy was very happy and put those shells back in his pocket and went away with his sister. The shopkeeper’s assistant was very surprised watching all this. He asked the shopkeeper, “Sir! You gave away such a costly doll just for 4 shells ???” The shopkeeper said with a smile, “Well, for us these are mere shells. But for that boy, these shells are very precious. And at this age, he does not understand what money is, but when he grows up, he definitely will. And then he would remember that he purchased a doll with shells instead of money and he will remember me and think the world is full of good people. It will help him develop a positive attitude and he too in turn will feel motivated to do good.”

Moral of the Story: Whatever emotion you put out into the world, it will spread. If you do good, goodness will spread. If you do bad, negativity will spread. Realize you are a very powerful source of energy. Your good or bad will come back to you magnified, maybe not in ways you want it, and probably not in the ways you can understand it. But it will come back.