Acres of Diamonds

There is an old story that was originally told by Russell Conwell, the founder of Temple University. It is a fable about a man named Al Hafed, who lived in ancient Persia. He was a successful farmer, a contented and wealthy man. One day, a priest came by and began to tell A1 Hafed all about diamonds, how much they were worth, and all he could buy with just a handful of diamonds. Suddenly, Al Hafed felt poor and discontented; he was determined to become immensely rich. He sold his farm, left a neighbor in charge of his belongings, and went off to search for diamonds.

He wandered all over the world looking for diamonds. He spent all his money. Finally, penniless and dressed in rags, he stood at the ocean's edge, and when the tide came in, he cast himself into the sea, never to arise again.

Meanwhile, the man who bought the farm brought his camel to drink from a brook on the property. As the camel was drinking, the man noticed a curious stone in the stream, which he picked up and put on his mantle. The priest who had first visited Al Hafed happened to stop by, saw the stone and said, "A diamond! Al Hafed must have returned." The farmer said no, that he had found the stone in the stream in his garden. The two men rushed out and found many more beautiful diamonds. And, the legend goes, it was on this spot that one of the greatest diamond mines in the world was found.

This story holds a lesson for us. Why are we willing to travel the world, looking for that which will make us rich, when it is really right in our own backyard? We keep looking for greener pastures. We don't search inside to understand the truest value of who we are, so that when we do venture out there, we're walking on the firmest ground in the world. Nobody can stop us when we know what fundamentals lie within.