Quoted in Ron Moore’s Making Common Sense Common Practice:
Three men were working in a rock quarry, pounding rocks. It was very hard, sweaty, arduous work. A fourth man happened through the quarry, and, coming upon the first man, asked, “What are you doing?”
To which the first man replied in an irritated tone, “What, you blind? Poundin’ rocks, that’s what they pay me to do.”
Sensing that the conversation had ended, the fourth man walked on, and came across a second man, and politely asked the same question, “What are you doing?”
“Oh, I’m making a living for my family,” was the reply. “One day my son will go to college, and hopefully he will have a better life than mine.”
The fourth man went on, finally coming to the third man working in the rock quarry, and, of course, asked, “What are you doing?”
To which he replied proudly, “Oh, I’m helping build a temple for the greater glory of God. It’s really an exciting effort, this is.”
The first man had no goal. The second man had an admirable goal related to himself and the continuation of his family. The third man had a “superordinate” goal: it was greater than himself, but one in which he could feel a part.
Which man experienced the greatest fulfillment in the course of his day?
by Dan Millman:
