By Adam Conley

A reader of this site, Adam Conley, once sent a little story that is well worth passing on. In his letter he said the story was told to him as a “joke” by a friend, who apparently did not understand the wisdom buried within its words.

The story:

A very good man passed away and went to the pearly gates where St. Peter was checking off names. When it became his turn, St. Peter asked the man if he wanted to enter Heaven or Hell. “What do you mean,” asked the surprised man. “Are you saying I have a choice?”

“Of Course,” answered St. Peter. “Allow me to give you a tour.” And with that, they walked down a long, elaborate hall until they came to a door with the name Hell posted on it.

Inside this door, the new arrival observed thousands of people seated at a huge table laden with food. But all of the people in the room looked gloomy, extremely thin, sickly, and depressed.

“What is wrong with them?” asked the good man.

“Their spoons are too long so they can’t get food to their mouths as their arms aren’t long enough to maneuver the spoons,” answered St. Peter. “Let’s continue on.”

Farther down the hall they came to a second door marked “Heaven.” Inside they found another food laden table surrounded by fat and happy people. The man noticed that they, like the people in Hell, also had short arms and very long spoons. “Why are the people so much better off here?” he asked.

“Everything is the same, but the people in Heaven have learned to feed and love eath other,” said St. Peter. “The people in Hell remain greedy and uncaring. They will not feed each other for fear their bowl may contain more than that of the other person’s. This is how they lived on Earth.”

Of course, the moral of the story is that unconditional love will save us all, if we learn how to apply it.