~ SEARCH NO MORE ~

~SEARCH NO MORE~


Ali Hafed was a farmer from Africa, who was happy and
contented. One day a priest came to visit him and told him
about the glory of diamonds and the power that goes along
with having them. The priest said, "If you have a diamond
the size of your thumb, you could have your own city. If you
had a diamond the size of your fist, you could own the whole
country." After the priest left, the farmer could not sleep
that night. He became unhappy and discontented with what he
had, and the whole night he thought to himself how rich and
powerful he would become if he could possess some diamonds.


The next morning, he sold off his farm, left his family with
his neighbor, and set off to search for diamonds. He
traveled all over Africa, but could not find any. He looked
all over Europe and couldn't find any. Finally, he became
emotionally, physically and financially broke and decided to
take his own life by throwing himself into the river.
Back home, the person who had bought his farm was watering
the camels at a stream that ran through the farm. He
suddenly saw a curious flash of light from the white sands
of the shallow stream. Reaching into the water, he pulled
out a rough stone that sparkled like the colors of the
rainbow. Finding the stone interesting, he took it back to
his house and placed it as a decoration piece in his living
room. One day the priest came to visit, and saw the
sparkling stone. He exclaimed, "Here is a diamond! Is Hafed
back?" The man replied, "No, no, Hafed has not returned, and
that is not a diamond. It is only a stone I found right here
in the garden." When the priest heard this, he declared, "I
know a diamond when I see one."


Together they rushed out to the garden stream and began
searching. To their amazement, there came up other more
beautiful and valuable stones than the first. Thus, was
discovered the largest diamond mine in the world.




SUCCESS PRINCIPLES


The above story, Acres of Diamonds was lectured by Russell
H. Conwell more than 6,000 times during his lifetime. With
the funds from the above lectures he founded Temple
University. We are forever looking for opportunities
elsewhere rather than within us. "Acres of Diamonds" taught
us that the riches and opportunities that we are searching
are within us. As the saying goes, "the grass on the other
side always appears to be greener." Diamonds in its rough
form do not look like diamonds. The raw diamonds need to be
skillfully worked on and polished before they are of value.
Likewise most of us are like the raw diamonds, and need to
be worked on and polished before we realize our full
potential.