What’s Outside Your Window?

Dear Friends,

As I sit in my NJ office looking out my window at the rain falling, I started thinking to myself about whats important in life.

I remembered a a story that I was once told that may serves as a poignant reminder of what’s important in life. I feel compelled to share this story with you:

Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs. The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back. The men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they’d been on vacation.

Every afternoon, the man who could sit up would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window next to his bed. The man in the other bed began to live for those one-hour periods where his world was broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the world outside.

The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake, said his roommate. Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Young lovers walked arm-in-arm amidst flowers of every color and a fine view of the city skyline framed the horizon. As the man by the window described all this in exquisite detail, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine the picturesque scene.

Days and weeks passed.

One morning, the day nurse arrived only to find the lifeless body of the man by the window, who had died peacefully in his sleep. She called the hospital attendants to take him away. As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved to the other bed. The nurse was happy to make the switch, and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone.

Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look at the world outside. He strained to turn and look out the window beside the bed.

He faced a blank wall.

When the nurse returned, the man asked her what could have compelled his deceased roommate to describe such wonderful things outside this window. The nurse responded that the man was blind and could not even see the wall.
She said, “Perhaps he just wanted to encourage you.”

So as I sit here typing this story, you like me, you now may begin to realize that:

We make a living by what we get,
but we make a life by what we give.

Your Trusted Advisor For Life,
Jeffrey Stanton

P.S. Whats outside your window? Do you have a story you’d like to share? I’d love to hear it. Please email me at jstanton@opteum.com or call me at 866-377-7875