Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs. His bed was next to the room’s only window. The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back.
Every afternoon when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window.
The man in the other bed began to live for those one hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the world outside.
Days and weeks passed. One morning, the nurse found the lifeless body of the man by the window, who had died peacefully in his sleep.
The other man asked if he could be moved next to the window. Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look at the real world outside. All he could see is a blank wall. The man asked the nurse how his deceased roommate could describe such wonderful things outside this window. The nurse responded that the man was blind and could not even see the wall.
She said, “Perhaps he just wanted to encourage you.”
There is tremendous happiness in making others happy, despite our own situations. Shared grief is half the sorrow, but happiness when shared, is doubled. If you want to feel rich, just count all the things you have that money can’t buy.
