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A Buddhist story tells of some children on a beach. Each one made sand castles and, afterwards, said, “This one is mine. Don’t touch it.” Each defended his sand castle and would not let another child stand nearby.
One child, however, came to another’s sand castle in curiosity and kicked it over, destroying it. The child who had made the sand castle, in a rage began to beat the other child. He called out to the other children, “Look, my castle is destroyed! Help me punish the rule breaker, giving him what he deserves!”
The other children came over and joined in beating the child. They hit him with sticks and kicked him, until he lay motionless on the ground. Then, each child returned to his own sand castle, began building it, again, and saying to any other child who came near, “Stay away! This is mine! Don’t touch my sand castle!”
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Evening approached and darkness began to settle over the beach. Each of the children turned from his sand castle and thought about going home. The children each forgot about his sand castle or lost interest in it. Some kicked over their castles. Some mashed the castles with their hands. Some walked off and left the castles, having lost interest in them.
One by one the children returned home. By dark, the tide had come in and washed the castles away.
I Timothy 6.6-8 reads, “Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; for we brought nothing into the world, so that [some ancient texts read “for sure” or “it is certain that"] we can take nothing out of it; but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these” (NRSV).
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