One day, a group of boys decided to play a collective football game. They agreed that each of them would bring something to be used in the professional match. So one would bring the ball, another the whistle, another would stand as the goal referee, some would bring the goalkeepers’ gloves and the corner flags, and so on.
But before starting the game, while they were choosing the participating teams, there was a simple problem: they decided that the boy who brought the most important thing would get to choose the best teams. But they weren’t able to determine which thing was the most important?
Therefore, they thought it was better to start playing and use everything and gradually eliminate what the boys had brought, to know the things that were truly indispensable. The first thing they eliminated was the whistle, because the referee could scream instead of that. Then they threw away the goalkeepers’ gloves and managed to save the ball without them as well.
They also didn’t notice a real difference when they stopped using the corner flags, or when they replaced the goal posts with some cardboard boxes. They continued until they replaced the football ball with an old shoe, and managed to continue playing. All the boys were modest and were able to do without all the expensive things, replacing them with simple things.
While they were playing with the shoe, a man and his son passed by and saw the boys playing like this. The man said to his son: “Look, my son, and learn from these children there. Even without a ball, they are able to play football and enjoy it. Despite that they won’t be able to improve the game in this way, and despite possessing much for everything, they cannot enjoy as they enjoy with their modest game and their simple tools to the extreme.”
“So it’s not necessary, my son, to wear the best in the world and show off and become arrogant with it. Rather, the matter is with your modesty with people, for this is what will achieve for you happiness and people’s love.” One of the boys heard what the father said to his son. The boys decided to invite his son to participate in their playing and agreed to start playing again from the beginning.
With all appropriate equipment and with this boy’s participation, they were all in a state of happiness. It was truly a wonderful game filled with love and cooperation. No one from either team thought about who was playing better or worse. Instead, they focused only on enjoyment and improving their game.
The boy participated in their enjoyment that day, and everyone learned a lesson in modesty and cooperation. They learned well that participation among everyone is the foundation of happiness, and that a team cannot be complete with one or two individuals but with a large group that cooperates among themselves to achieve the goal.
The Moral Value Learned:
Modesty, generosity, and collective work are the foundation of happiness. The main lesson of our story is that when we do things together, the important thing is to confirm that matters will appear in a better picture, instead of worrying about the value of each individual’s contribution, and that doing without luxuries will not ruin matters. For the poor person enjoys playing like the rich person—indeed, he might enjoy even more—because he won’t worry about the damage of his expensive game or its breaking.