Who We Are: $20 Bill Lesson

The subject of the story ...

A well-known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20.00 bill.

To the packed room of people, he asked, "Who would like this $20 bill?" Hands started going up all around the room.  He said, "I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this." 

He proceeded to tightly crumple up the $20 dollar bill. When he opened his hand, he then asked, "Now, who still wants it?" Hands again went up in the air.

"Well," he replied, "What if I were to do this?" With that, he dropped it on the floor, stomped on it several times, and then began to grind it into the floor with his shoe.

 Now, both crumpled and dirty, he held it up for all to see. "Now, who still wants it?" Again, the hands went into the air.

"My friends, I think we have all learned a valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it, because it did not decrease in value. It's still worth $20.

Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make, or the circumstances that come our way. We may feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, just like this twenty-dollar bill, we will never lose our value.

Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, we are still priceless to those who love us. The worth of our lives comes not in what we do, or who we know, but by who we are.

“I am only one, but I am one. I can't do everything, but I can do something. The something I ought to do, I can do, and by the grace of God, I will.” ~Everett Hale