Once upon a time, there lived a farmer named Hafiz in Africa. He was happy and content. He was happy because he was content. And 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 u had a diamond the size of your thumb, you could buy your own city. If you had a diamond the size of your fist, you could probably own your own country." And then the wise man left. That night Hafiz couldn't sleep. He was unhappy and was discontented. He was unhappy because he was discontented and discontented because he was unhappy.
The next morning, Hafiz made arrangements to sell his farm and went off in search of diamonds. He looked all over Africa and couldn't find any. He looked all through Europe and couldn't find any. By the time he got to Spain, he was emotionally, physically and financially depleted. He was so disheartened that he committed suicide by throwing himself into the Barcelona River.
Back home, the person who had bought his farm was watering the camels at the stream that ran through the property. Across the stream, the rays of the morning sun hit a stone and made it sparkle like rainbow. He thought the stone would look good in his living room. He picked up the stone and put it on his mantle piece. That afternoon, the wise man came and saw the stone sparkling. He asked, "Is Hafiz back?" The new owner said, "No, why do 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 a stone I picked up from the stream. Come I'll show you. There are many more." They went and picked up 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.
(Adapted by Russell Cornwell, Acres of Diamonds, Cornwell founded Temple University based on this lecture.)
