The parable of the three wells

Let me share with you an ancient parable that I just made up:

One day, three brothers were walking through the woods when each of them fell into a separate well.

The younger brother tried to get out of the well, but could not.

The middle brother tried to get out of the well, but he couldn’t.

The older brother, like the others, tried to leave and could not.

And so they waited there for days, feeling hungry, thirsty, desperate.

Until one day a farmer comes along and says to the older brother, “I can help you get out of the well. And all it will cost you is $ 10,000.”

Now. the older brother was not rich. He could raise the money and he was desperate. He did so. He applied for a small loan, drew on his savings, and paid the farmer to help him out of the well.

Now afterwards, he was very grateful to the farmer who helped him … although you could see a slight dead cast in his eyes every time he talked about it.

To the middle brother, a merchant came up and said, “I can help you out of the well. I will use my strength, I will use my cunning, I will use my wits to fashion you a rope, a pulley, a ladder and help you out of the hole.”

And with his help, the middle brother managed to get out as well.

He was so happy because he had his freedom and it didn’t even cost him anything, unlike his older brother.

But still, when he spoke about the incident, he seemed a bit shocked.

And then came the younger brother.

A wise monk approached him and said, “I will teach you how to get out of the well. I will teach you what to do, how to do it, how to gather strength so that you can climb.” from this well and any other well you find in the future. “

And so the younger brother was there at the well practicing long after his older brothers had come home safely.

He was there with the wise monk, helping him, working hard, spending all his time training to strengthen himself.

And by his own means he was able to get out.

Now, unlike his other siblings, not only does he smile when he tells this story, but he even dug a similar hole in his backyard so he can sleep there.

Every morning he came out of the well just to remind himself that he could.

Like any good parable, this one has many morals and many meanings.

One of the most important is that just because something helps you doesn’t mean it’s good.

Something is only really good if it not only helped you in the past, but will help you again in the future.

Any help that you depend on forever is not real help at all.