泥丸

A man was exploring caves by the seashore. In one of the caves he found a canvas bag with a bunch of hardened clay balls. It was like someone had rolled clay balls and left them out in the sun to bake.

They didnt look like much but they intrigued the man， so he took the bag out of the cave with him. As he strolled along the beach， he threw the clay balls one at a time out into the ocean as far as he could.

He thought little about it， until he dropped one of the clay balls and it cracked open on a rock. Inside was a beautiful， precious stone！ Excited， the man started breaking open the remaining clay balls. Each contained a similar treasure. He found thousands of dollars worth of jewels in the twenty or so clay balls he had left.

Then it struck him. He had been on the beach a long time. He had thrown maybe fifty or sixty of the clay balls with their hidden treasure into the ocean waves. Instead of thousands of dollars in treasure， he could have taken home tens of thousands. But he had just thrown it away！

Its like that with people. We look at someone， maybe even ourselves， and we see the external clay vessel. It doesnt look like much from the outside. It isnt always beautiful or sparkling， so we discount it.

We see some people as less important than others who are more beautiful or stylish or well known or wealthy. But we have not taken the time to find the treasure hidden inside the less attractive people.

Each one of us is a treasure. If we take the time to get to know people， then the clay begins to peel away and the brilliant gem begins to shine forth.

有个人在海边探洞。在一个洞中，他在地上发现一个帆布包，里面装着变硬了的泥丸。好像是有人搓了一些泥丸，搁在阳光下晒干了。

这些泥丸看上去平常无奇，但还是激起了他的兴趣，他把包带出了洞。他一边在沙滩上徜徉着，一边将泥丸一个个远远地抛进大海。

他并没有多想什么，直到一颗泥丸掉在岩石上摔裂了。原来里边是一个精美绝伦的宝石。他激动万分，迫不及待地逐一摔开剩余的泥丸。每一个泥丸里边都有相似的宝贝。这样，在剩下的大约二十个泥丸中他找到了价值数千美元的宝石。

此时，他才如梦初醒。他在海滩上已经溜达了很长一段时间，并且已将五六十个泥丸，连带其中的财宝一起抛到了海浪之中。他原本可以将上万美元而不是区区几千美元带回家的，但他把它们白白丢掉了。

这和对待人一样。当我们看待人，甚至是看待我们自己的时候，我们看到的只是外面的泥壳。从外面看没有什么价值，不华丽也无光泽，所以我们不加重视。

我们以为貌美的、时髦的、有名的或有钱的人更重要。其实，我们根本没有花时间去发掘那些其貌不扬的人，他们身上有着不为人知的宝贝。

我们每个人都是一块宝。倘若我们花时间去了解的话，那么剥去泥壳，耀眼的珍宝就会闪闪发光。