I’m So Glad Our Cow Died
The one thing that can never be taken from you.
“Everything can be taken from man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstance, to choose one’s own way.” — Viktor Frankl
I’ve been thinking about this story by Professor and Leadership expert, Connor Neill which really resonated.
A family lived on a small plot of land in the outskirts of a remote village. The family owned one cow and they lived totally off its milk. If the cow produce little milk, they eat little, if much, they eat much.
A traveller tired after a long day’s journey arrived into the village. He had no place to stay and he’s hungry. But this family invites him in and shares their little food with him.
He feels so thankful and grateful to this family for their kind gesture to a lonely and worn traveller. He was genuinely grateful and thought, “What can I do to show my appreciation to this family?”
As he was thinking about it he walked down to the centre of town. He sits on a bench and next to him sat a very famous wise man. He turns to the wise man and says, “wise man, there’s a magnificent family that helped me today. They gave me their food. They shared with me their table. I want to return the favour.”
The wise man looks at him and said “Kill the cow.”
Shocked, the traveller looks at the wise man and said “How can I? It’s their only possession. I can’t do that.”
The traveller, on second thought, knowing the reputation of the wise man thought to himself “there must be something to this.” And just as he was about to live the town he decided he’s going to do it.
So, late at night, he crept into the home of this family that so graciously helped him. He slaughtered the cow and heads off.
A year later, the traveller returned to the village, and immediately noticed something has changed. He noticed new shops and a thriving market. He saw a new hotel that provided beds and food to the travellers who came for the market.
He walked into the hotel, behind reception, he sees a young man standing tall, smiling and happy. He noticed this young man is the son of the family that helped him a year ago. He walked up to him and said “Young man, the town has changed. This hotel is new. What happened?”
The young man answered him, “Last year, our family lived off one cow. And one night the cow died. We woke up in the morning, we had nothing. We had to go out and do something to eat. We took some of the other things we owned and sold them in the market. People came and bought from us. We built a small place to serve food for the people that came for the market. And we also built an hotel for the people who come to the market and eat at the restaurant. And its thriving.”
“Life has changed for the better. I’m so glad our cow died.
Lessons:
When one door closes another always opens, but we usually look so long, so intently and so sorrowfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one that has opened.
— Jean Paul Richter.I really believe in the old expression that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. It’s through adversity that you find the strength you never knew you had. — Christie Brinkley.
In every adversity there lies the seed of an equivalent advantage. In every defeat is a lesson showing you how to win the victory next time. — Robert Collier.
