Two friends were walking along the bank of a river.
As they went, they got into an argument about something.
At one point, one friend slapped the other across the face.
The one who was slapped felt deeply hurt, but without saying anything, he wrote in the sand:
“Today my friend slapped me.”
A little later, they forgot the quarrel and continued their journey.
Along the way, they came across quicksand.
The friend who had been slapped suddenly slipped and began to sink.
The other friend risked his own life to pull him out and save him.
After being rescued, the friend took a stone and carved on it:
“Today my friend saved my life.”
The first friend looked puzzled and asked,
“When I hurt you, you wrote it in the sand.
But when I saved you, you carved it on a stone. Why?”
The second friend smiled gently and said,
“When a friend hurts us, we should write it in the sand —
so that the winds of love and forgiveness can erase it easily.
But when a friend helps us, we must engrave it in stone —
so that it can never be forgotten.”
