Change Yourself and not The World

Long ago, people lived happily under the rule of a king. The people of the kingdom were very happy as they led a very prosperous life with an abundance of wealth and no misfortunes.

Once, the king decided to go visiting places of historical importance and pilgrim centres at distant places. He decided to travel by foot to interact with his people. People of distant places were very happy to have a conversation with their king. They were proud that their king had a kind heart.

After several weeks of travel, the king returned to the palace. He was quite happy that he had visited many pilgrim centres and witnessed his people leading a prosperous life. However, he had one regret.

He had intolerable pain in his feet as it was his first trip by foot covering a long distance. He complained to his ministers that the roads weren’t comfortable and that they were very stony. He could not tolerate the pain. He said that he was very much worried about the people who had to walk along those roads as it would be painful for them too!

Considering all this, he ordered his servants to cover the roads in the whole country with leather so that the people of his kingdom can walk comfortably.

The king’s ministers were stunned to hear his order as it would mean that thousands of cows would have to be slaughtered in order to get sufficient quantity of leather. And it would cost a huge amount of money also.

Finally, a wise man from the ministry came to the king and said that he had another idea. The king asked what the alternative was. The minister said, “Instead of covering the roads with leather, why don’t you just have a piece of leather cut in appropriate shape to cover your feet?”

The king was very much surprised by his suggestion and applauded the wisdom of the minister. He ordered a pair of leather shoes for himself and requested all his countrymen also to wear shoes.

Moral: Instead of trying to change the world, we should try to change ourselves.

译文：

改变你自己，而不是改变世界

很久以前，人们在国王的统治下幸福地生活了。王国的人民非常幸福，因为他们过着丰富的财富，没有不幸的人过着非常繁荣的生活。

有一次，国王决定去遥远地方的历史重要性和朝圣者中心。他决定步行旅行与他的人民互动。遥远的地方很高兴与国王交谈。他们为自己的国王善良而感到自豪。

旅行几周后，国王回到了宫殿。他很高兴自己访问了许多朝圣中心，目睹了他过着繁荣生活的人民。

但是，他后悔。他的脚上有无法忍受的疼痛，因为这是他的第一次脚步，覆盖了很长的距离。他向部长们抱怨道路不舒服，他们非常石膏。他无法忍受痛苦。他说，他非常担心那些不得不沿着这些道路行走的人，因为这对他们也很痛苦！

考虑到这一切，他命令他的仆人用皮革覆盖整个国家的道路，以便他的王国人民可以舒适地行走。

国王的部长们震惊了他的命令，因为这意味着为了获得足够数量的皮革，必须屠杀成千上万的奶牛。这也将花费大量的钱。

最后，一个来自事工的智者来到国王，说他还有另一个主意。国王问什么是选择。部长说：“您没有只用皮革覆盖道路，而是不只是切成适当形状的皮革来遮盖脚呢？”国王对他的建议感到非常惊讶，并赞扬了部长的智慧。他为自己订购了一双皮鞋，并要求所有同胞也穿鞋。

寓意：我们应该试图改变自己，而不是试图改变世界。