The Touchstone


Some times ago I was reading a story, which I am sharing here with all of you. After you read this story count how many times could this have happened to you and if you have altered those aspects of your life that made you miss the opportunity. Here is the story -

The Touchstone

When the great library of Alexandria burned, the story goes, one book was saved. But it was not a valuable book; and so a poor man, who could read a little, bought it for a few coppers.

The book wasn't very interesting, but between its pages there was something very interesting indeed. It was a thin strip of vellum on which was written the secret of the "Touchstone"!

The Touchstone was a small pebble that could turn any common metal into pure gold. The writing explained that it was lying among thousands and thousands of other pebbles that looked exactly like it. But the secret was this: The real stone would feel warm, while ordinary pebbles are cold.

So the man sold his few belongings, bought some simple supplies, camped on the seashore, and began testing pebbles.

He knew that if he picked up ordinary pebbles and threw them down again because they were cold, he might pick up the same pebble hundreds of times. So, when he felt one that was cold, he threw it into the sea. He spent a whole day doing this but none of them was the touchstone. Yet he went on and on this way. Pick up a pebble. Cold - throw it into the sea. Pick up another. Throw it into the sea.

The days stretched into weeks and the weeks into months. One day, however, about mid-afternoon, he picked up a pebble and it was warm. He threw it into the sea before he realized what he had done. He had formed such a strong habit of throwing each pebble into the sea that when the one he wanted came along he still threw it away.

So it is with opportunity. Unless we are vigilant, it's easy to fail to recognize an opportunity when it is in hand and it's just as easy to throw it away.

Comments

Pratik Agrawal said…
Hi Surendra, the story and the moral of the story is really really wonderful. Thanks for sharing it...
www.ideaofnewindia.blogspot.com
Anonymous said…
Hi Boos, the fact and story furnished here are very near to reality and you make sincere effort to publish all here. Everybody has got positive and negative aspects and I hope your intention is to set right the wrongs and nothing else.
Surendra said…
Thanks to all for reading this blog and your view point about it.
Unknown said…
Mind set changes the situation. If work is geting monotonous then mind tends to do the same thing in all situations.
Unknown said…
Mind set changes the situation. If work is geting monotonous then mind tends to do the same thing in all situations.
Surendra said…
Very True Mragendra. It happens with mind set. Whenever we do any task repededly it becoms a habit of ours. It is both good and bad also.
Shoaib Qureshi said…
Enjoyed your blog, very close to reality. Keep writing & keep sharing.

Regards,
Shoaib Qureshi
http://soyasays.blogspot.com/

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