A Treasure All For You - Da una lezione sulla comunicazione per Wassim Nehme

“A man lived on an island, cultivating small grapevines and some olive trees and tending his flock of goats. He used to climb uphill with his animals, up to a grassy knoll, from where the view was completely open to the sea and, while the goats grazed, he would be seated on a flat boulder, admiring the faraway horizon and thinking of his destiny and the possibilities that he would like to have for his life.

One day he was sleeping on the boulder and he had a dream. He dreamed of a city where there were two mainlands divided by an arm of the sea, with a bridge above. A voice told him that directly behind the first pillar of the bridge, there was a treasure waiting just for him.

He kept having this dream for some consecutive days, until the shepherd decided to give it credit. He gathered information from some sailors who approached the island to refill their water supply, he borrowed some money from other shepherds, entrusted his flock to them, and left.

He found the actual city he had dreamed of, with the arm of the sea and the bridge. He spotted the first pillar and he circled it, but…unfortunately he found a beggar sleeping there. While he was thinking about how he could move the beggar away in order to find his treasure, the man awoke.

They began to chat and the beggar asked him what had brought him there. The shepherd hesitated briefly, but then told him about the dream. The beggar broke into laughter and said, “And for this reason you came here?”

“Certainly!” responded the shepherd. “A treasure all for me - I am very interested in that!” 

“Hah!” said the beggar. “What should I do then, since every night I dream that far from here, there is an island cultivated with grapevines and olive trees and inhabited by goats, where there is a grassy knoll and a flat boulder? A voice insists on telling me that right under that boulder I will find a treasure all for me!”

This story may be found in various versions and with many interpretations. I prefer to end it here and interpret it as simply as this: You are your own personal treasure. The important thing is to be able to recognize it.