No idea where this one came from. (Beyond a forwarded email from my mom). Nonetheless, it’s pretty fantastic...
A fleeing Taliban
terrorist, desperate for water, was plodding through the Afghan Desert when he
saw something far-off. Hoping to find water, he hurried toward the
mirage, only to find a very frail little Jewish man standing at a small,
makeshift display rack, selling neckties. The Taliban terrorist asked,
"Do you have water?"
The old
man replied, "I have no water. Would you like to buy a tie? They are
only five dollars."
The
Taliban shouted hysterically, "Idiot Infidel! I do not need such an
overpriced western adornment. I spit on your ties. I need
water!"
"Sorry, I
have none, just ties - pure silk, and only five dollars."
"Pahh! A curse
on your ties! I should wrap one around your scrawny little neck and
choke the life out of you, but I must conserve my energy and find
water!
"Okay," said the little old Jewish man. "It does not
matter that you do not want to buy a tie from me, or that you hate me,
threaten my life, and call me Infidel. I will show you that I am bigger
than any of that. If you continue over
that hill to the east for about two miles, you will find a restaurant.
It
has the finest food and all the ice-cold water you need. Go in
peace”.
Cursing
him again, the desperate Taliban staggered away over the hill.
Many hours
later he crawled back, almost dead, and gasped,
"They
won't let me in without a tie."
And some extra food for thought, in context:
Where might we have cursed others and thought them to be useless or irrelevant because they didn’t appear to have anything of value to us?
Where might we have been too quick to dismiss others due to our fixed focus on a particular thing or destination, only to have to slow down and come to back to acknowledge the value of perspectives they might have had to offer essential to our advancement later on?