Thousands of years ago, there was a king. The people in his kingdom loved him very much because he fulfilled their needs and helped them. At the end of every month, the king would add a session of honorable men in the kingdom, in order to know from them about the things that were lacking in the kingdom, what needed to be corrected, and how to do it.
The king built many places. Every year, he would renew his palace, and each time it appeared better than its previous appearance. One day, the king thought to himself: This year, I will build the perfect place, the place that contains all means of comfort. The new palace will be like paradise not only for the residents of the kingdom but for all people in the neighboring kingdoms.
The rulers and nobles in the king’s council admired the idea of the new palace, convinced that it was an excellent and wonderful idea. All of them except one person only, who sat in the corner in silence. The man began speaking in a quiet voice: Oh my lord the king, this palace will be strong and will remain forever. It will be a beautiful palace but not perfect, given that those who live inside it are mortal humans. They will die someday. They are not eternal, so the palace will live forever, but its residents will not live forever.
The man completed his speech: I had been silent thinking about one thing, which is that people are born without possessing anything and also die without taking anything with them. At that point, the king thought about the man’s words and said to him: I think you are right. Thank you for your judgment. From that time on, the king decided not to build any new palaces and to provide services to the people of the kingdom and care for them, so that his name and what he offered to the people of his kingdom would be remembered instead of just building an empty palace where no one lives.
The Lesson from the Story: We must think about how to serve and help people more than we think about our selfish dreams. Building individuals and helping people is much better than building perfect palaces, because people will benefit each other, but the palace eventually will not benefit anyone.
The story is translated from the story: The Perfect Place