Article by
KAYSOON KHOO
Way back in the fifties, Hollywood released a very entertaining and enlightening movie entitled "The Inn of the Sixth Happiness". Its story is based on the biography of Gladys Aylward, a Christian missionary who held the rare and noble conviction that we are all accountable for one another.
When she arrived in China as a young girl, Gladys Aylward worked in an inn which catered to muleteers. The establishment bore a very unusual name. It was known as the Inn of the Sixth Happiness.
Gladys was told the Chinese wished everyone the five joys -- wealth, longevity, good health, virtue and a peaceful death in old age. When she asked what the sixth happiness was, the answer puzzled her. It was not something she expected to hear. It was not even an answer at all but a statement. Each one had to decide for himself what the sixth happiness meant to him.
You have to ask yourself the same thing too. The world you live in is that Inn of the Sixth Happiness. Like an inn, it is but a temporary abode. During your brief sojourn here, what is the greatest prize you seek, apart from the first five blessings?
Let's put it this way -- if you were granted only one wish, what would it be? Think well before you give your answer. It will tell you what values and standards you place upon yourself. And it will give you an insight into the person within you -- the REAL you.
Gladys was told the Chinese wished everyone the five joys -- wealth, longevity, good health, virtue and a peaceful death in old age. When she asked what the sixth happiness was, the answer puzzled her. It was not something she expected to hear. It was not even an answer at all but a statement. Each one had to decide for himself what the sixth happiness meant to him.
You have to ask yourself the same thing too. The world you live in is that Inn of the Sixth Happiness. Like an inn, it is but a temporary abode. During your brief sojourn here, what is the greatest prize you seek, apart from the first five blessings?
Let's put it this way -- if you were granted only one wish, what would it be? Think well before you give your answer. It will tell you what values and standards you place upon yourself. And it will give you an insight into the person within you -- the REAL you.
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