This week, I had a small talk with my colleague regarding my plan of leaving my work. I showed her a line I read from an online site. Then she said: “Go, if you can’t find your diamonds in your backyard”. Then I asked her:”What do you mean by that?”. Then she told me the story of a man who sold his backyard full of diamonds.
There’s a farmer who lives with a tranquil, simple life. Contented with his parcel of backyard, he live as a man who is not asking for anything. Until a wise man paid a visit to him. This wise man told him,”I wonder if you have a diamond”. Then the farmer asked: “what’s with the diamond?”. The wise man replied: “If you have a diamond with the size of your thumb, you can buy a city; but if you have a diamond with the size of your fist, you can buy a country.”
The farmer was enticed by what the diamond can do so he decided to sell his house including his backyard to a poor man. And he travelled all over the world and found nothing. In fact, he ended up into a bankruptcy in Spain and died.
Meanwhile, in the farmer’s former land, the poorman noticed a shining crystals to the stream of water that quenches the thirst of his cows. He thought that its just a beautiful rock and he decided to put this rock into his dining table.
The wise man revisited the land where he met the farmer. He ask the poor man:” Where is the farmer?” Then the poorman replied:” He is no longer living here, he sold his house including his backyard to me.” Then the wise man notice a shining crystal to the dining table: “Is that a diamond?” The poor man replied:”I dont think so, its just a rock”. “No, its a diamond!” the wise man said.
Then they headed to the backyard and saw diamonds through the stream and they digged more and found many of it.
This story was a wake up call for me. We are setting our expectations to the extent that this is unreachable unless we have this dedication and patience. I’m just turning to six month this year to my present company. And yet, ever since I started there, I have lots of demands, expectations in which it really takes time.
Being an officer who does nothing but to stay for an eight hours, it kills me! Its like my skills and ‘talent’ are in park mode. But, after hearing this story, it changed my perspective about my present company.
There is a perfect timing for the use of skills/talent. Maybe, not this time. Be aggressive in a way that you can relatively share your thoughts on matters that you have knowledge. And of course, when we are bored, think of others who doesn’t have decent work as yours. Bored? Always think of the others. Be thankful.
The story of the farmer and the diamond reminds us that, we can discover things in our lives in a simple reflection and knowing more of ourselves. Never be destructed by the noise of the outside world.
To end my story, I just want you to ask you, Have you heard the song Diamonds by Rihanna? There’s a line that goes: “You’re beautiful like a diamond in the sky.” I want to interpolate this line by saying:
Your diamond is in your backyard not in the sky.
Arvin Valencia 