A man’s house caught fire, and he began beating his chest and crying. Someone said to him, “Don’t cry like a madman. Don’t you know your son sold the house yesterday? The deal was finalized last night.”
His tears immediately dried up, and he started laughing. He said, “If that’s the case, then it’s actually very good—the house is sold!”
The house was still burning, burning just as much—perhaps even more—but now he was no longer crying.
Just then, the son came running and said, “Why are you standing here? We are ruined!” The man replied, “Ruined? Someone told me the house was sold.” The son said, “We had only talked about it. The advance payment was supposed to happen today.”
The man again began beating his chest and crying.
The house was the same. The man was the same. Only in between, the thought had come: “It is not mine.” So the tears stopped. Now that it was “mine” again, the tears returned.
