Would You Trade Diamonds For Wheat?

The story is told of a tired and worn coal miner. One day while working in his mine he uncovered a massive diamond. He quickly ran home to show it to his wife. They were so excited that their financially hard life would finally be over. The miner went to the local gem dealer. The dealer told the miner that he was very fortunate to find such a gem, but he was unable to purchase it from him, for he could never afford that diamond. The dealer recommended that he travel by ship to the big city and sell it there. The miner told the dealer that he was unable to afford the voyage, so the dealer suggested that he tell the captain his situation and hopefully the captain would be accommodating.

The miner went down to the docks and found a ship the big city, he explained his situation to the captain. Upon seeing the diamond the captain agreed to take him on the voyage and receive payment later. The captain gave him the finest cabin on the ship and treated him as royalty.

Everyday at each meal the miner would take out his diamond and admire it, and then put it back in his inside coat pocket. A few days into the voyage the miner was sitting down for breakfast, took out his diamond to admire, and instead of putting it back in his pocket left it on the table. After breakfast the miner went out of his cabin to stroll on the upper deck, and forgot his diamond on the table.

When the simple minded porter came in to clear away the meal he did not notice the diamond sitting on the white table cloth. He wrapped up the tablecloth, opened the window and shook it out, sending the diamond into the ocean to be lost for ever.

At lunchtime the miner reached into his coat pocket to admire his diamond, and to his shock it was not there. He remembered the last time he had it, and suddenly realized that he had left it on the table. He knew the simple minded porters routine of cleaning the table, and knew that his beautiful diamond was now at the bottom of the ocean.

What was he going to do? He could not tell the captain, he would surely be thrown overboard. He decided the he would wait until they got to the city and once there he would try and find a way to pay back the captain.

That evening the captain came to speak to him. The captain told him that he was carrying a large shipment of wheat to sell to a conglomerate in the city, and needed a cosigner for the contract. The captain felt that the miner was a man of integrity and asked him if he would cosign with him on the deal. The miner agreed.

The day before the boat landed at the harbor the captain died of a heart attack. When they arrived the miner was the sole remaining partner to complete the transaction. And the money that he received was far beyond the value of the diamond.

The End.

The miner thought that his wealth would come from the value of the diamond, and when that was thrown into the ocean he thought that his wealth was gone also. In the end his wealth came from the wheat, the diamond was just the catalyst that began the journey.
So often in life we loose something that we see as valuable, whether it be a relationship, a job or an opportunity. We believe that that loss means the end. We cling to that belief and either try to get it back, or give up. More often than not, if we look at the situation we will see that we benefited and gained much from that valuable experience and made many new connections that would have never existed before. We can then use this awareness to spring ourselves forward to new and greater height.

In the end we will see that the past loss’ value was only as a catalyst to bring us to something far greater

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