Still Worth A Lot
A well-known speaker started off a seminar by holding up currency. In the room of 200, he asked, who would like this a twenty dollar bill? Hands started going up. He said, “I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this.”
He crumpled it. He then asked, “Who still wants it?” The same hands were up.
“Well,” he replied, “What if I do this?” He dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty. “Now who still wants it?” he asked. Still the hands stayed up.
“My friends, we have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth twenty dollars.
“Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by bad decisions and unfortunate circumstances that come our way. We feel like we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value: dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to those who love you.
“The worth of our lives comes not in what we do or who we know, but by who we are. You are special—don’t ever forget it!”