Three men were sitting on a bus bench, waiting. One was fresh out of high school, young and energetic, another was middle aged and growing older, and the last was already elderly and was slowly withering away. The old man was rather talkative and spoke of how fulfilling his life was and all the enjoyments of having a family and working for a living. In fact, he had both the young and middle aged men quite captivated by the ideas that he spoke of however the middle aged man had a family and a good job and in the end, left the bench to return to work…it was the younger that became an issue. With high school just behind him, the young man became thrilled with the old man’s former financial success, and decided to forget about college and to own his own business just like the old man had.
After returning home, he pondered for a few long hours, wondering just exactly he would sell to people to get his business started. He couldn’t cook, nor could he bake, and he had absolutely no talent when it came to making crafts. By the time the sun had come up, he had made a very hard decision, but decided to sell some of the artwork that he had created in school, but unable to come up with a good business plan, he returned to the old man. Yet the old man’s response was everything but what he had expected;
“Do not be a fool, boy, my successes were completely random, I was either at the right place at the right time, or at a place where people wanted what I was selling. But art is a risky game to get into, with no recognizable trends. Go to college, and learn something that will support your life, do not try to mirror my success.”
The young man was outraged. How dare this old man tell him that he could not be successful, and though he said his goodbyes respectively, the young man proceeded to curse the old man until he returned home. Then the young man decided to go against the old man’s advice, and began to sell his artwork for a living.
After twenty years had gone by, the old man had passed away, and the middle aged man had become the president of his company, but what about the young man? The young man had lost everything. Ironically, instead of a nice home with a family and nice things, he found himself living on the same bench where he had met the other two men.
MORAL: Advise and counsel him, if he does not listen, let adversity teach him.