The Allegory of the Long Spoons

Description

A man was once taken on a tour of hell and was surprised by what he saw: All hell’s inhabitants sat at long tables in a dining room, spoons in their hands, the best smelling and best looking food to have ever graced a dining room filled the air with an exquisite aroma. But all the diners’ arms were tied to slats of wood that kept their arms extended. In this position, the poor souls were unable to bend the spoons to their mouths. Hell was filled with the hungry, tortured by the fact that they were so close to the most amazing food imaginable and yet could not eat it. Then the man visited heaven and found the same scenario. Long tables, hungry souls, strapped arms, unable to bend their hands to their mouths to eat. But there was a profound difference. The souls in heaven sat across from each other, not trying to feed themselves, but trying to feed the person sitting across from them. You see, the difference between heaven and hell, it might be said, is that the inhabitants of hell are concerned only for themselves. Heaven, on the other hand, is populated with people who spend their time serving each other.