Short Inspirational Story - A POUND OF BUTTER

A POUND OF BUTTER

 “Do not do to others what angers you if done to you by others.” ~ Socrates

There was a farmer who used to sell a pound of butter to a baker. One day the baker thought of weighing the butter to see if he was getting a pound as promised however to his surprise and he found that he was not getting the full pound.

Treat those who are good with goodness, and also treat those who are not good with goodness. Thus goodness is attained. Be honest to those who are honest, and be also honest to those who are not honest. Thus honesty is attained.~ Lao Tzu

This made him very angry and he took the farmer to court. The farmer was asked by the judge if he was using any measure. 

The farmer responded, your Honor, I am primeval. I don't have a appropriate measure, but I do have a scale."

The judge then asked the farmer, "Then how do you weigh the butter?" The farmer replied "Your Honor, long before the baker started buying butter from me, I have been buying a pound loaf of bread from him. Each day when the baker brings me the bread, I put it on the scale and offer him the equivalent weight in butter. If anyone is to be held responsible, it is the baker."

The more people rationalize cheating, the more it becomes a culture of dishonesty. And that can become a vicious, downward cycle. Because suddenly, if everyone else is cheating, you feel a need to cheat, too.

~Stephen Covey

Therefore the moral of the story is…….We tend to get back in life what we offer to other people. Every time you take an action, ask yourself this question: Am I being fair and honest, would I feel ok if the same happens to me. Some people practice deceitfulness and can lie with a straight face. Others lie so much that they don't even know what the reality is any longer. But who are they misleading? Themselves.

Integrity is not a conditional word. It doesn't blow in the wind or change with the weather. It is your inner image of yourself, and if you look in there and see a man who won't cheat, then you know he never will.

~John D. MacDonald