The successful life shop

In a far country, a man was walking in the street. Passing through a place he knew very well, he notices that a new store has appeared: “Successful Life Shop”.

Intrigued, he goes inside, and – to his surprise – finds in the midst of an impressive junkyard an angel with two beautiful white wings and a tunic of the same color.

The man approaches when the angel sees him: “Welcome dear customer! In this shop, we offer everything to be happy! “.

Intrigued, our man asks: “Everything to be happy? Really? “.

The angel continues: “Absolutely everything! Plus sir, it’s free! This is our concept! “.

Without praying, our man then asks: “I need a change of job, could I have a new, interesting one, with pleasant and motivated colleagues, an understanding leader, and very good remuneration? “.

The angel then replied: “No problem sir, we have an excellent one with a lot of challenge, inspiring and brilliant colleagues, an understanding and grateful hierarchy and, as a supplement offered, an extraordinary salary. Would you like anything else? “.

Taken aback, the man continues: “Well, I would love to have more charisma, better demeanor and more humor in conversations …”

“No problem,” continues the angel, “our promotion of the month is precisely offering our ‘Hellish Charisma, Culture and Communication’ pack to all our customers! Something else?”.

“Well, with all this, I know myself, I’m going to want to enjoy it, to party, to move… I wouldn’t want to get sick…”.

“Very well dear customer, we therefore offer you iron health for your whole life, an exceptional metabolism to recover from your possible alcoholic evenings and finally, our little extra, a fast, deep and restful sleep! What else would you want to be happy?”.

“Ah! I was going to forget the essential! Be well surrounded! I would like to have lots of friends – in their twenties if possible – and a nice family with a simple, pretty, loving wife and two gifted, calm children who just leave me alone when I get home. And if I can have a nice house with it, I would be really happy!”.

The angel replies, “No problem dear customer, we are adding an assortment of 2 dozen caring and friendly friends, a simple, wealthy, beautiful, intelligent and understanding woman and the children to go with her. We complete this offer with a splendid house with garden, indoor swimming pool and garage… Are you happy?”.

” Oh yes!” The man replies, overjoyed. “When can I have all of this?”

“Right away sir, give me a moment …”.

The angel leaves for the back room, then returns a few moments later with a small leather bag which he hands to our friend.

“What is that?” Asks the latter.

“Your order” replies the angel.

The man gets carried away: “But that’s not what we said at all! We said a job, a house, friends… Not that tiny little bag!”.

The angel then replies, “Sir, I assure you that everything, absolutely everything that I have promised you is in this bag. On the other hand, we can only give you what we have… And our shop only has the seeds… When it comes to growing them, you are the only person who can do it!”

Geraldine Pasleau

The gardens of UNI-VERS