Two men, both seriously ill,
occupied the same hospital room.
One man  was allowed to sit up in his bed
for an hour a day to drain the fluids
from his lungs. His bed was next to
the room's only
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 had been on vacation.
And every afternoon when the 
man in the bed next to the window
could sit up, he would pass the time
by describing to his roommate all
the things he could see outside the

The man in the other bed would live for
those one-hour periods where  his world
would be broadened and enlivened by all
the activity and  color of the outside world.
The window overlooked a park
with a lovely lake, the man had said.
Ducks and swans played on the water
while  children sailed their model boats.
Lovers walked arm in arm amid flowers
of every color of the rainbow.
Grand old trees graced the landscape,
and a fine view of the city skyline could
 be seen in the distance.
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.

One warm afternoon the man by
the window described a parade passing by. 
Although the other man could
 not hear the band, he could see it
in his mind's eye as the gentleman
 by the window portrayed it with
deive  words. Unexpectedly,
an alien thought entered his head:
Why should hehave all the pleasure
of seeing everything while I never get
 to see  anything? It didn't seem fair.
As the thought fermented, the man felt 
ashamed at first. But as the days passed
and he missed seeing more sights,
his envy eroded into resentment and
soon turned him sour. He   began to brood
and found himself unable to sleep.
He should be by that  window - and that
thought now controlled his life.

Late one night, as he lay staring at
 the ceiling, the man by the window 
began to cough. He was choking on the
 fluid in his lungs. The other man  
watched in the dimly lit room as the
 struggling man by the window groped
for the button to call for help. Listening
from across the room, he never moved,
never pushed his own button which
would have brought the nurse running.
In less than five minutes, the coughing
and choking  stopped, along with the
sound of breathing. Now, there was only
silence--deathly silence.

The following morning, the day nurse
arrived to bring water for their baths.
When she found the lifeless body of the
 man by the window, she was saddened
and called the hospital attendant to take
it away--no  words, no fuss. As soon as it
seemed appropriate, the man asked if he 
could be moved next to the
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.
Finally, he would have the joy of seeing
it all himself. He strained to slowly turn
 to look out the window beside the bed.
It faced a blank wall.

Moral of the story:

The pursuit of happiness is a
matter of choice...it is a positive attitude
we consciously choose to express.
 It is not a gift that gets delivered to our
doorstep each morning, nor does it come
through the And I am certain
 that our circumstances are just a small
 part of what makes us joyful.
If we wait for them to get just right,
we will never find lasting joy.