We all make mistakes

One day a young Buddhist monk, who was new to the order, was sent to help build a new monastery. The task given to the young man was to build a brick wall that would surround the new building. Being a perfectionist he took his time making sure that every brick was laid with the utmost care and precision. Taking extra time to level and clean each brick he laid. Only after several weeks did he finally complete his task, he stepped back to admire his work. After close examination he realized that there were two bricks in the wall that some how became crooked, he was beside himself to say the least. He went to the head monk and asked for permission to demolish the wall and start over again, the Master turned down his request.

For several weeks after he could not get those two bricks out of his head. He would lay in his bed at night and would criticize himself to no end. How could he make such a mistake. Anytime people came to the monastery for a visit it was his job to give the tours, he would do everything he could to keep people from seeing his mistake. This went on for some time. Then one day a group of people showed up unannounced, they were waiting for him at the front entrance, at the very spot of the wall where those two bricks were.After rushing to meet the group he found out that one of the men was a master mason. Embarrassed by his mistake he pointed out the fact that he had been the one that built this wall. After looking very hard at the wall the mason complimented on what a wonderful job the monk had done. The young monk was dumbfounded. He thought to himself, this man must be blind, he must have left his glasses in the car."This is not a good job",the monk said. "Don't you see those two crooked bricks?". The mason said to the monk,"Yes i saw them, but I also see the 998 other bricks that were laid perfectly."


The moral of this story is, why do we always dwell on the mistakes we make or the bad things that happen to us? Life would be so much more enjoyable if we didn't carry around all the negativity that happens and concentrate on the good things we have done and the happiness we have had in our lives. Our lives are what we make of them. Don't waste your time thinking of your two crooked bricks. Be happy about the 998 perfect ones. Love your life and it will Love you back.