An Email I Received

A Holy man was having a conversation with the Lord one day and said, 'Lord, I would like to know what Heaven and Hell are like.'

The Lord led the holy man to two doors.

He opened one of the doors and the holy man looked in.

In the middle of the room was a large round table.

In the middle of the table was a large pot of stew, which smelled delicious and made the holy man's mouth water.

The people sitting around the table were thin and sickly.

They appeared to be famished. They were holding spoons with very long handles that were strapped to their arms and each found it possible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful.

But because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoons back into their mouths.

The holy man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering.

The Lord said, 'You have seen Hell.. They went to the next room and opened the door. It was exactly the same as the first one.

There was the large round table with the large pot of stew which made the holy man's mouth water.

The people were equipped with the same long-handled spoons, but here the people were well nourished and plump, laughing and talking.

The holy man said, 'I don't understand.

'It is simple,' said the Lord. 'It requires but one skill.

You see, they have learned to feed each other.

The greedy think only of themselves.'

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I thought this was an excellent email. When I'm talking to my friends we often talk about how corrupt and unbalanced this American society is. If this email has any validity, then there really is a hell on earth and it's referred to as the United States of America.

This email brought to mind all of the people I have reached out to for information about employment, not a handout or a hookup. It shocks me how often people (specifically "my people") will withhold information about opportunities that will not negatively affect them, only positively affect others. I have way too many stories of that exact situation. However, I do have great examples of people not being so greedy or selfish that they're willing to help others even with something as small as time and information. Unfortunately, none of these examples involve "my people".