Acres Of Diamonds

Ali was a farmer from South Africa, who was happy and contented.
One day a friend came to visit him and told him about the value of diamonds and the money that goes along with having them.
The friend said, “If you have a diamond the size of a coin, you could have your own city. If you had a diamond the size of a tennis ball, you could own the whole country.”
After the friend left,the farmer could not sleep that night. He became unhappy and discontented with what he had, and the whole night he thought to himself how rich and powerful he would become if he could possess some diamonds.
The next morning, he sold off his farm, left his family with his neighbor, and set off to search for diamonds.He traveled all over Africa, but could not find any.
He looked all over Europe and couldn’t find any. Finally,he became emotionally, physically and financially broke and decided to take his own life by throwing himself into the river.
Back home, the person who had bought his farm was watering the camels at a stream that ran through the farm. He suddenly saw a curious flash of light from the white sands of the shallow stream. Reaching into the water, he pulled out a rough stone that sparkled like the colors of the rainbow. Finding the stone interesting, he took it back to his house and placed it as a decoration piece in his living room.
One day that friend came to visit again, and saw the sparkling stone. He exclaimed, “Here is a diamond! Is Ali back?” The man replied, “No, no, Ali has not returned, and that is not a diamond. It is only a stone I found right here in the garden.”
When the friend heard this, he declared,“I know a diamond when I see one.”Together they rushed out to the garden stream and began searching. To their amazement, there came up other more beautiful and valuable stones than the first. Thus, was discovered the largest diamond mine in the world.
SUCCESS PRINCIPLES:We are forever looking for opportunities else where rather than within us.
“Acres of Diamonds” taught us that the riches and opportunities that we are searching are within us. As the saying goes, “The grass on the other side always appears to be greener.”

Diamonds in its rough form do not look like diamonds. The raw diamonds need to be skillfully worked on and polished before they are of value.
Likewise most of us are like the raw diamonds,and need to be worked on and polished before we realize our full potential.
MOTIVATIONAL QUOTE"Society is like a crowd in carnival costumes with everyone fearful that others will see through his disguise