Cassan Said Amer tells a story about a lecturer who began a seminar holding up a one dollar bill, and asking:
- Who wants this dollar bill?
Several hands went up, but the lecturer said:
- Before handing it over, there’s something I must do.
He furiously crushed it, and asked again:
- Who still wants this bill?
The hands continued raised.
- And what if I do this?
He threw it against the wall, letting it fall to the floor, kicked it, stamped in it and again held up the bill – all dirty and crumpled. He repeated the question, and the hands continued to be held high.
- You mustn’t ever forget this scene – said the lecturer. – No matter what I do with this money, it’ll still be a one dollar bill.
“Many times in our lives, we are crushed, stamped on, kicked, maltreated, offended; however, in spite of this, we are still worth the same.”
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Hola Paolo.
Quiero darte las gracias por escrbir tus libros, leerlos me ha ayudado a salir del pozo en el que estaba por problemas de pareja.
Desde hace un mes soy una mujer nueva y feliz.
Muchas gracias.
Hi,
I have used this in several corporate training programs that I have conducted to drive home the concepts and difference between value and worth.
:-)
Very effective indeed.
Thanks
Ishita
I would even say that as more times we are crushed, stamped on, kicked, maltreated, offended etc by the life the more valuable we become…strange, but that is a reality which helps us to understand the truth…and it is up to us if we see this or will just fight against that trying to change our life for what it seems for us as for “better” :-) Everything in this life has its reason and its meaning… enjoy your life!… :-)
like.like.like.
Its amazing prof…
here we go as im agreed with Sheela Nandini and with Paulo equally – as it is the symbol of live Lama’s point of view and dollar bill will be questioning forever – it only matter of time when one of them will rise and foll and we witness(take part- at some point )endless battle betwin them !!!!!!
The complicated becomes simple when you put it into words…Thank You
Amazing story ,,an economic lecturer once told us the exact same story but missed the last two lines which explains all
Yes Paulo, this is the way life has to lived.
Even tough, we faced any kind of incidents, we should creep but to live life lovingly forgetting the past.
Paulo,Ekdum Sahi bola hai Bidu…
muy buena la reflexcion
Money only has the value we humans concede it, it can never be compared to the value of a person. A dollar bill is a worthless piece of paper that only has value in a monetary society but would be useless to actually survive in a chaotic environment where money would not buy food, shelter or water.
I very much agree.
As always, very inspirational. You are wonderful Paulo. Thank you for guiding me.
Ah money, the source of all world’s problems, evil, and greed.
He should have burned the bill as a symbol. Society needs to get rid of the concept of money to advance.
Thanks….that was inspiring after so many crushing and breaking incidents of life all in a row…
Money is stagnent and they say its Black money n we r on crisis..Cash is the same let pull the money out without looking the colour n set back all thies crisis….
Olá Sr.Paulo Coelho,sempre procuro um incentivo em suas palavras.E consigo.Falar,escrever mandar a letra é fácil,difíciu é o que ouvimos ficar guardado no coração.Obrigada.
Thank you, I want to share this with everyone
But what if we cant change the cruelity of life ?How we can smile if we do not want to smile.
if you don’t want to , don’t..
so what you can do?? you can sit with the pain, and observe what is there.. accept what is there, without any judging, just sit with the feelings.. feel them in your body being reflected.. is it in your gut? your throat? your chest??
then what else… shift your perceptiopn.. see the obstacles not as something devilish or bad, but as opportunity to lean.. and thus turn it into your own advantage.. obstacles are there so that you can hop over them.. hop and HOPE..and there will come the smile.. life is not only about smiling (the rainbow can be seen as a smile of the sky to you) but the sky accepts also the rain..
Love and Graditude
Annie
short yet sweet and comforting
thanks alot
Thanks a lot Paulo for reminding me yet again about the meaning of self-worth….love you a lot…. :)
There’s but one difference … after “we are crushed, stamped on, kicked, maltreated, offended;” and managed to surrvive and learnt the lessons we are worth more than we were in the beginning …
Dear Paulo,
Thank you for showing us a new way to think about self. Its different because I always believed in the belief that one should consider one-self as a tree; no matter how much flowers, fruits or branches my fellow men will take away from me; next spring will bring more flowers, fruits and branches in me (read tree). (Here, by flowers, fruits, branches; I mean money & other monetary benefits)
Warm Regards,
Rajesh Thakkar
Dear Paul Coelho,
I somehow have read this same kind some years back…… It so very true
NON PRECISA DIZER NADA ESTADO DETTO TUTTO.
Frankly speaking I never liked your books.
But I love this post. It has an answer I wouldn’t have found anywhere else.
Thanks a ton :)
“De multe ori în vieţile noastre, ne sunt zdrobite, ştampilate pe, lovit, maltratat, jignit, cu toate acestea, în ciuda acestui fapt, suntem încă în valoare la fel.”
Acestă frază reflectă perfect viaţa mea (si a multor oameni), despre care nu vreau şi nici nu cred că e cazul să vorbesc aici. Viaţa îţi rezervă multe surprize, uneori neplăcute, dar dacă ai un crez, luptă pentru el şi în final vei reuşi! O spun din propria experienţă !
“Ceea ce nu te doboară, te face mai puternic” şi “Dacă vrei, poţi” sunt două devize de viaţă după care oamenii ar trebui să se conducă.
Pace în lume, linişte în suflet şi multă dragoste pentru toţi !
Cu admiratie şi multă iubire, Mariana
Thanks for sharing
so simple yet so touching.. Life is worth living no matter what comes our way…
Yes, we are still the same, but if we are crushed several times, we should wonder why… because there is something wrong, it could be with the people doing this to us, but it also can be with us.. there is a lebanease saying: you split on him, he thinks it’s raining!
I know that what we go through does not change our value and it can on the contrary increase our value as a person. But what if the one dollar bill was burnt? What if going through so many problems and troubles in life we get burned down… that is our capacity to live just dies out… How do we reclaim that value back?
Geetha….I believe that we create our value in our own eyes which in turn attracts others to us rather than doing it the other way round….
What a lovely story about our self worth and about trying to maintain our value. If the dollar bill is burnt then it no longer exsists as a dollar bill and has a physical death. In a different form the universe will still hold it as vauable as an important part of its process.
Lo importante no es conseguir un billete y/o moneda limpio ó sucio, ya que sigue teniendo el mismo valor en el mercado.
Lo verdaderamente importante, es si lo hemos conseguido honradamente, sin manchar ni alquilar nuestra dignidad.
MORALEJA
Era un hombre tan pobre
tan pobre y mísero era;
que por tener no tenía
ni vergüenza en la cartera.-Rafael Aparisi-.
Gracias de nuevo, estimado Paulo.
Thanks Paulo I needed to hear that cuz I do feel like I wasn’t worth it.
I know I am and the one who treated me like that dollar bill will one day live to regret it.
Dear Prof, Between what is worth living for, and what is worth dying for, there is life-itself includes all its challenges that worth living, worth walking and worth learning. And, even if many times in our lives we are crushed,offended or maltreated, we are still worth the same if we just believe in ourselves!
Much love!!!
tks for this Story Mr.Paulo….its really touch my heart deeply,i almost cry…Thank U
Much Love
Lia
Very nice one … thanks, ur words bring me a lot of peace as I was thinking only today morning that after making so many mistakes whether I would be the same….. thanks for re-assuring that its not the outside visible crumbling … its the value of what it stands for… Love your work
No importa cuantas veces en la vida se nos desvalorize, mientras nosotros entendamos el enorme valor que como personas poseemos, más maduros estaremos para afrontar lo que en la vida se nos mande realizar, Hay que seguir siempre adelante, y si en algún momento sientes que tu billete esta demasiado arrugado siempre te puedes cambiar por una moneda, ésta no tendrá arrugas ,solo que deberás tener la convicción de darle brillo todos los dias, aunque con ello dejes a algunos ciegos……,,,
!!!!Saludos Paulo de la última de sus amigas !!!!!
moral doesn’t have synonyms money in dictionary
very well said
Well here is my analogy of the matter of the story.
what i see is an spiritual awareness which no matter how much the dollar bill was used and abused was loved and the more the bill was going through the more love will gather.
Why i see it like this you might ask? the reason is that as human beeings we all are fighting a battle and is mustly like the same with a slight change and my understanding of spirituality tells me that the dollar was no a dollar was a person going through her/his tribulation time ( like crist style suffering) and the other souls were watching in spirit so having said that the people were rising their hands more and more is the spiritual growth of the sufferer and the witnesses that was rising up in order to become a master of what ever the goal was hope you all understand the way i digg deeply this view of the story. God bless you all.
very motivated story, thank you
Yet, if you tear the bill it’s of no value… When one dies one loses all one’s material value… What remains then is your spiritual value which is eternal!!!
Thanks Paulo, for sharing this. Ther are moments in one’s life when one feels this is not what he/ she had strived for. Something,somewhere has gone grossly wrong and life offers one big chunk of dejection. It is in these moments of despair and hopelesness that your words act not just as a balm to bruised hearts but instill in one the will and the faith to resurge!!
To do honor to the truth; the trade market can make the value of the dollar to change against other currencies in a daily basis; however the value of yourself is driven mainly by your actions and bahavior and only you have control over that.
PUES BIEN NUESTRAS VIDAS SONCOMO ESE BILLETE PASE LO QUE PASE SEGUIERMOS SIENDO LOS MISMOS Y CON EL MISMO VALOR COMO UD. DICE PODEMOS SER PISOTEADOS,RECHAZADOS,OFENDIDOS,OLVIDADOS,JUZGADOS, MALTRATADOS ,IGNORADOS, EN FIN POR OTRO LADO TAMBIÉN NOS PUEDEN HABER QUERIDO, IDEALIZADO,AMADO,Y MUCHAS COSAS POSITIVAS MAS …POR LO QUE NO PERDEREMOS NUESTRA ESCENCIA O NUESTRA NATURALEZA AL IGUAL QUE ESE BILLETE NO PERDIO SU VALOR NOSOTROS TAMPOCO LOPERDEREMOS DEBEMOS MANTENERNOS CON FUERZA Y FORTALEZA PARA SEGUIR ADELANTE SIN DESMALLAR….mcvg
No we are not worth the same as the $1 bill!! WE are priceless for we are the lovely creations of God and there is no monetary value could compare our worthiness!! If we could only show compassion,caring and sharing for each other then there is no need for measuring how much or less we have!
it’s not what happens to us that matters but rather what happens within us :)
Yes we are still worth the same! Bur I rather consider myself as priceless! We are the creations of God and no monetary value could compare this life we have!!!
A comforting message to begin my day with.
Lots of love
Nandhini
Cada ser humano deve saber que é primeiramente amado por Deus ; e que alto preço Ele nos tem ! Independente se feios ou bonitos ,inteligentes ou nem tanto , homens ou mulheres , velhos ou moços , doentes ou sãos ,ricos ou pobres , não importa . Somos dignos de todo amor e respeito !
O amor supera tudo ! O amor torna o feio em bonito , o velho em novo , o erro em perdão e vontade de acertar sempre.
Só o amor !
Obrigada por mais este exercício do dia !
It reminds me of children and their closest friend “teddy bear”… despite how it looks (dirty, eyes missing, holes in it, patches, bald…) they still love their “friend” because it was listening to them when nobody else was and it was present when nobody else was in the same room to protect them… so you can kick it, jump on it and even throw it to the bin… kids will go and get it back… :o))
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