I have seen this story quite a few times already – in forwarded e-mails and social
networking sites. This must have been inspired by a similar story or parable told hundreds
of years ago and then modified through time.

As I remember, the story goes this way – there was a farmer who heard of other people
finding diamonds in lands afar and getting rich as a result. So, upon the advice of others,
the farmer sold his land and set off to travel and dig for diamonds in other lands. For years
and years he traveled and dug, but could not find any. Finally, he died without seeing a
single diamonds in his lifetime.

Years after that farmer’s death, the land that farmer bought came into the possession
of a young man. That young man explored his newly-bought farmland and was puzzled
to see something glistening among the soil and rocks. Upon taking a closer look, the
young man was surprised to find diamonds! And there were dozens and dozens of them!

So the farmer, ironically, sold the very land where diamonds lay waiting to be discovered, in
order to find diamonds in faraway lands.

Are there diamonds in your own backyard that you are not aware of?