The Farmer's Watch

A short story given by my sup stuck on the walls of my study desk for all of you (: Here goes...

There was once a farmer who discovered that he had lost his watch in the barn. It was no ordinary watch because it had sentimental value for him.

After searching high and low among the hay for a long while, he gave up and enlisted the help of a group of kids playing outside the barn. He promised them that the person who found it would be rewarded five dollars.

Hearing this, the group of kids hurried inside the barn, flipped thorough and around the entire stack of ha but still could not find the watch.

Just when the farmer was about to give up looking for the watch, a little boy went up to him and asked to be given another chance. The farmer looked at him and thought, " Why not? After all, the kid looks sincere enough." So the farmer sent the little boy back in the barn.

After a while the little boy came out with the watch in his hand! The farmer was both happy and surprised and so he asked the boy how he succeeded where the rest had failed.

The boy replied, " I did nothing but sit on the ground and listen. In the silence, I heard the ticking of the watch and just looked for it in that direction."

Very often, we allow the noise of the world to drown out our inner voices, our intuition, and the language of our hearts. Via a dizzying array of flashy commercials, glossy images of the rich and famous, and confident strides of the beautiful and thin, the world tells us repeatedly how being ourselves isn't acceptable or sufficient. It reminds us how we will be happy only when our bodies look a certain way, when we are wealthy, successful, respected, or famous, when we marry a particular person, or when we own a certain car or phone.

As a result, we often emulate others, without trusting and loving ourselves enough to make our own decisions. We rush blindly towards false and fanciful goals like money, a desirable partner who doesn't truly love us, the favorable opinion of others, fame or material possessions. These ultimately do not give us lasting happiness or meaning.

Finally, we come to realize that, in life, we should learn to distance ourselves from the din of the world and quieten ourselves down. To learn to listen to our inner voice, for it will point us in the right direction to find true joy, love and peace. (: