Success  doesn't  mean  the  absence  of   failures;  it  means attainment  of  ultimate  objectives. It  means  winning  the  war,   not  every  battle.

-Edwin c.Bliss

There was a man who made a living selling balloons at a fair. he had all colors of balloons, including red, yellow, blue and green. Whenever business was slow, he would release a helium filled balloon in the air and when the children would see the balloon go up, they all wanted to buy one. They would come up to him, buy a balloon, and his sales would go up again. He continued this process all day. One day, he felt someone tugging his jacket. He turned around and saw a little boy who asked, " If you release a black balloon would that also fly?"  Moved by the boy's concern, the man replied with empathy, "Son, it is not the color of the balloon, it is what is inside that makes it go up "

The same thing applies to our lives. It is what is inside that counts. The thing inside of us that makes us go up is our attitude.

There was a farmer in Africa who was happy and content. He was happy because he was content. He was content because he was happy. One day a wise man came to him and told him about the glory of diamonds and the power that goes along with them. The wise man said, "If you had a diamond the size of your thumb, you could own your city. If you had a diamond the size of your fist, you could probably own your own country." And then he went away. That night the farmer couldn't sleep. He was unhappy and he was discontent and discontent because he was unhappy.

The next morning he made arrangements to sell of his farm, took care of his family and went in search of diamonds. he looked all over Africa and couldn't find any. He looked all over Europe and couldn't find any. When he got to Spain he was emotionally broke. He got so disheartened that he threw himself into the Barcelona River and committed suicide.

Back home, the person had bought his farm was watering the camels at a stream that ran through the farm. Across the stream the rays of the morning sun hit a stone and made it sparkle like a rainbow. He thought it would look good on the mantelpiece. He picked up the stone and put it in the living room. That afternoon the wise man came and saw the stone sparkling. He asked, "Is Hafiz back?" The new owner said, "No, why did you ask?" The wise man said, "Because that is a diamond. I recognize one when I see one." The man said, "No that's just one stone I picked up from the stream. Come, I'll show you. There are many more." They went and picked some samples and sent them for analysis. Sure enough, the stones were diamonds. They found that the farm was indeed covered with acres of diamonds.

What is the moral of the story?

There are five morals:

1. When our attitude is right, we realize that we are all walking an acres and acres of diamonds. Opportunity is always under our feet. We don't have to go any where. All we need to do is to recognize it.
2. The grass on the other side always looks greener.
3. While we are eyeing the grass on the other side there are others who are eyeing the grass on our side. They would be happy to trade places with us.
4. When people don't know how to recognize opportunity, they complain of noise when it knocks.
5. The same opportunity never knocks twice. the next one may be better or worse,but i is never the same.