Whose Apple is This?
Thursday, August 23rd, 2007
One day a poor man was seated near the house of a wealthy man, begging for his daily food. The wealthy man came out and begin to insult him, calling him lazy and worthless. But the poor man remained very calm. The poor man’s calmness caused the wealthy man to become increasingly more angry and abusive, in an attempt to illicit some reaction or response.
The poor man had an apple that someone had given him in his begging bowl. He held up the apple to the rich man and said:
“If I give you this apple, and you accept it, whose apple is it? The wealthy man answered, “Why my apple, of course, since you gave it to me and I accepted it!”
The poor man then said “But if I offer it to you and you do not accept it, THEN whose apple is it?”
The wealthy man replied, “Why, then its YOUR apple, of course!”
The poor man said, “You offer me anger and insults, but I do not accept them, so the anger and the insults remain YOURS.”
The wealthy man was astounded by the realization of why he was becoming more and more angry.
