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A very wealthy man, old and desperately
ill, summons to his bedside his three closest advisors: his
doctor, his priest, and his lawyer. "I know," he says, "they
say 'you can't take it with you.' But who knows? Suppose they're
mistaken. I'd like to have something with me, just in case.
So I am giving each of you an envelope containing one hundred
thousand dollars and I would be grateful if at my funeral
you would put the envelopes in my coffin, so that if it turns
out that it's useful, I'll have something."
They each agree to carry out his wish.
Sure enough, after just a few weeks,
the old man passes away. At his funeral, each of the three
advisors is seen slipping something into the coffin. After
the burial, as the three are walking away together, the doctor
turns to the other two and says, "Friends, I have a confession
to make. As you know, at the hospital we are desperate because
of the cutbacks in funding. Our CAT SCAN machine broke down
and we haven't be able to get a new one. So, I took $20,000
of our friend's money for a new CAT SCAN and put the rest
in the coffin as he asked."
At this the priest says, "I, too
have a confession to make. As you know, our church is simply
overwhelmed by the problem of the homeless. The needs keep
increasing and we have nowhere to turn. So I took $50,000
from the envelope for our homeless fund and put the rest in
the coffin as our friend requested."
Fixing the other two in his gaze, the lawyer says "I am astonished
and deeply disappointed that you would treat so casually our
solemn undertaking to our friend. I want you to know that
I placed in his coffin my personal check for the full one
hundred thousand dollars."
So
of cheerfulness, or a good temper... the more it is spent,
the more it remains.
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