Paulo Coelho

Stories & Reflections

Give before being asked

Author: Paulo Coelho

Those who are paying attention to others, always give before being asked for. Often our selfishness apologize, saying, “if he was in need, he would have asked.”

And we forget that many people can not – simply can not – ask for help.

I’m not talking just about money: loneliness, often can be worse than hunger.

A man knocked at his Bedouin friend’s door to ask him a favor:

“I want you to lend me four thousand dinars because I have a debt to pay. Can you do that for me?”

The friend asked his wife to gather together everything they had of value, but even so it was not enough. They had to go out and borrow money from the neighbors until they managed to get the full amount.

When the man left, the woman noticed that her husband was crying.

“Why are you sad? Now that we’ve got ourselves in debt with our neighbors, are you afraid we won’t be able to repay them?”

“Nothing of the sort! I’m crying because he is someone I love so much, but even so I had no idea he was in need.

“I only remembered him when he had to knock on my door to ask me for a loan.”

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