The Secret of Happiness
Literary Works
If you would be loved, love and be lovable.
Benjamin Franklin
There is a wonderful fable about a young orphan girl who had no family
and no one to love her. One day, feeling exceptionally sad and lonely,
she was walking through a meadow when she noticed a small butterfly
caught unmercifully in a thornbush. The more the butterfly struggled
to free itself, the deeper the thorns cut into its fragile body. The
young orphan girl carefully released the butterfly from its captivity.
Instead of flying away, the little butterfly changed into a beautiful
fairy. The young girl rubbed her eyes in disbelief.
"For your wonderful kindness," the good fairy said to the girl, "I will
grant you any wish you would like."
The little girl thought for a moment and then replied, "I want to be
happy!"
The fairy said, "Very well," and leaned toward her and whispered in
her ear. Then the good fairy vanished.
As the little girl grew up, there was no one in the land as happy as
she. Everyone asked her the secret of her happiness. She would only
smile and answer, "The sercret of my happpiness is that I listened to
a good fairy when I was a little girl."
When she was very old and on her deathbed, the neighbors all rallied
around her, afraid that her fabulous secret of happiness would die with
her. "Tell us, please," they begged. "Tell us what the good fairy said."
The lovely old waoman simply smiled and said, "She told me that
everyone, no matter how secure they seemed, no matter how old or
young, how rich or poor, had need of me."
Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul
Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Kimberly Kirberger
