A story tells of a merchant in
a small town who had identical twin sons. The boys worked for their father in
the department store he owned and, when he died, they took over the store.
Everything went well until the
day a dollar bill disappeared. One of the brothers had left the bill on the
cash register and walked outside with a customer. When he returned, the money
was gone.
He asked his brother, "Did
you see that dollar bill on the cash register?"
His brother replied that he had
not.
But the young man kept probing
and questioning. He would not let it alone. "Dollar bills just don't get
up and walk away! Surely you must have seen it!"
There was subtle accusation in
his voice. Tempers began to rise. Resentment set in. Before long, a deep and
bitter chasm divided the young men. They refused to speak.
They finally decided they could
no longer work together and a dividing wall was built down the center of the
store. For twenty years hostility and bitterness grew, spreading to their
families and to the community.
Then one day a man, in an
automobile licensed in another state, stopped in front of the store. He walked
in and asked the clerk, "How long have you been here?"
The clerk replied that he'd
been there all his life.
The customer said, "I must
share something with you. Twenty years ago I was riding the rails and came into
this town in a boxcar. I hadn't eaten for three days. I came into this store
from the back door and saw a dollar bill on the cash register. I put it in my pocket
and walked out. All these years I haven't been able to forget that. I know it
wasn't much money, but I had to come back and ask your forgiveness."
The stranger was amazed to see
tears well up in the eyes of this middle-aged man. "Would you please go next
door and tell that same story to the man in the store?" he said.
Then the man was even more
amazed to see two middle-aged men, who looked very much alike, embracing each
other and weeping together in the front of the store.
After twenty years, the brokenness
was mended. The wall of resentment that divided them came down.
It is so often the little
things that finally divide people - words spoken in haste; criticisms;
accusations; resentments. And once divided, they may never come together again.
The solution, of course, is to
let it go. There is really nothing particularly profound about learning to let
go of little resentments. But for fulfilling and lasting relationships, letting
them go is a must. Refuse to carry around bitterness and you may be surprised
at how much energy you have left for building bonds with those you love.
Author Unknown
