Heaven or Hell?

There once was a man who loved hiking, passionate about going into the mountains and exploring the unexplored, especially places where no one dared.

He liked to take upon the woody and dark terrains rather than the open and clear ones; he was born for adventure.

One bright day, he embarked on a journey with the bags packed the night before; it was very early, right after dawn; nature was waking up, the birds were singing, and humans were yet to wake up, just the way he liked it.

He planned to climb one of the steepest mountains in the nearby town: a dangerous terrain; he wanted to prove that he was up for the task.

The path was filled with many slippery slopes: what made matters worse was that it was surrounded by trees that blocked the sunlight; even when the sun was at its peak, the path remained dark.

He walked whistling an old country song as he enjoyed the nature that skirted around him.

After a few hours of walking, he saw a big tree as old as a few hundred years and figured a breather under it would do him good; a few minutes into his rest, he heard a voice coming from somewhere, he looked around, but no one was there.

It kept coming, and his fear started growing: the tree under which he rested shook like an earthquake and came alive.

The man was blown away by what he saw; his heart was in his mouth: he broke into a sweat, lost all his energy, and fell to the ground.

The tree took one of its roots out of the ground and tapped at his feet, trying to see if he was alive; It went on for a couple of minutes, and the man returned to consciousness.

'Who dares to come to my presence?' the tree asked.

The man froze and remained silent.

The tree echoed with a louder voice.

He gathered his strength to answer, 'I am just a hiker out on an adventure.' The tree replied, 'I have lived for 300 years, and no one has come near me: I come to life when a human comes near my presence; it has been 50 years since a human reached near me.' 'For this, I owe you everything, ask me what you want, and I shall give it to you?'

The man took time to think about what he should ask for and replied, 'give me one adventure that would change my life forever.'

'You will go up until the heavens and down until the depth of hell and come back,' the tree answered.

The man first went to hell, he saw row after row of tables laden with platters of sumptuous food, yet the people seated around the table were emaciated and pale, moaning in hunger, confused about why they could be this way when there was all this food.

As he came closer, he understood their plight.

Every person held a full spoon, but both arms were splinted with wooden slats, so he could not bend either elbow to bring the food to his mouth.

An excruciating groan came from the people who held their food so near but could not eat it; the sight was horrific.

Next, he went to heaven.

He was surprised to see the same situation he witnessed in hell- row after row of long tables loaded with food. As he came closer, he saw, in contrast to hell, the people here in heaven were sitting with content talking to each other, obviously sated from their luxurious meal.

He was amazed when he discovered that here, too, each person had his arms splinted on wooden slats that prevented him from bending his elbows.

He was curious how this could be; as he watched and waited, a man picked up his spoon and dug it into the dish before him. Then stretched across the table and fed the person across from him. The receiver thanked him and returned the favor by doing the same thing.

His adventure ended after that, and he was taken back to the tree.

The man cried to the tree to give him one chance to go back to hell as he had something to do.

The tree granted his wish, and he was taken back.

When he returned, he ran to one and whispered, 'you do not have to go hungry; use your spoon to feed your neighbor; he will surely return the favor and feed you.'

To his surprise, that man replied, 'you expect me to feed the despicable man sitting across the table; I would rather starve than give him the pleasure of eating!'

As he stood there with a disturbed face, he was taken back to the tree.

The tree saw the man and said, 'that’s why they say be careful what you wish for.'

The man left the tree without saying a word.

I am sure most of you will be as surprised as the man when you finish reading this story; I sure was.

Heaven and hell could be the same places but end up so different; the same opportunities and obstacles could have a bizarre difference in the outcome.

It is true in life that how we go along and what we try to do with what happens to us makes our place heaven or hell.

The story speaks tons more than I could add, so I will leave you with it.

      Be all you can be.✌

Let me know your comments below.👇