sons. The boys worked for their father in the department store he
owned and, when he died, they took over the store.
Everything went well until the day a dollar bill disappeared. One of
the brothers had left the bill on the cash register and walked outside
with a customer. When he returned, the money was gone.
He asked his brother, "Did you see that dollar bill on the cash
register?" His brother replied that he had not.
But the young man kept probing and questioning. He would not let it
alone. "Dollar bills just don't get up and walk away! Surely you must
have seen it!"
There was subtle accusation in his voice. Tempers began to rise.
Resentment set in. Before long, a deep and bitter chasm divided the
young men. They refused to speak. They finally decided they could no
longer work together and a dividing wall was built down the center of
the store. For twenty years hostility and bitterness grew, spreading
to their families and to the community.
Then one day a man in an automobile licensed in another state stopped
in front of the store. He walked in and asked the clerk, "How long
have you been here?"
The clerk replied that he'd been there all his life. The customer
said, "I must share something with you. Twenty years ago I was "riding
the rails" and came into this town in a boxcar. I hadn't eaten for
three days. I came into this store from the back door and saw a dollar
bill on the cash register. I put it in my pocket and walked out. All
these years I haven't been able to forget that. I know it wasn't much
money, but I had to come back and ask your forgiveness."
The stranger was amazed to see tears well up in the eyes of this
middle-aged man. "Would you please go next door and tell that same
story to the man in the store?" he said. Then the man was even more
amazed to see two middle-aged men, who looked very much alike,
embracing each other and weeping together in the front of the store.
After twenty years, the brokenness was mended. The wall of resentment
that divided them came down.
It is so often the little things that finally divide people- words
spoken in haste; criticisms; accusations; resentments. And once
divided, they may never come together again.
The solution, of course, is to let it go. There is really nothing
particularly profound about learning to let go of little resentments.
But for fulfilling and lasting relationships, letting them go is a
must. Refuse to carry around bitterness and you may be surprised at
how much energy you have left for building bonds with those you love.
