Who would like this twenty-dollar bill?

No, I'm not giving away money here, but just to share a story I find interesting with you all. Here goes:

There was a lecturer who began a seminar by holding up a twenty-dollar bill and asking:

'Who would like this twenty-dollar bill?'

Several hands went up, but the lecturer said:'Before I give it to you, I have to do something.'

He screwed it up into a ball and said:'Who still wants this bill?'

The hands went up again.

'And what if I do this to it?'

He threw the crumpled bill at the wall, dropped it on the floor, insulted it, trampled on it, and once more showed them the bill - now all creased and dirty. He repeated the question, and the hands stayed up.

'Never forget this scene,'he said. 'It doesn't matter what I do to this money. It is still a twenty-dollar bill. So often in our lives, we are crumpled, trampled, ill-treated, insulted, and yet, despite all that, we are still worth the same.'

I got this story from the book Like the Flowing River by Paulo Coelho, which is the book that introduces me to this marvellous yet humble author, whom I quoted the sentence at the top of this page from. I like what were written in the book and a lot of my friends find the book interesting too. It is enlightening and inspiring, using simple analogies and short stories to relate to other incidents we might face in life.

Enjoy!