There is an old tale about two friends who were traveling the dangerous mountains of Persia. One day, one of the friends lost his footing and fell into turbulent waters. His friend leapt in after him and saved him from a certain death. The friend who almost drowned ordered his servants to carve words into a nearby boulder: “Wanderer! In this place Nagib heroically saved the life of his friend, Mussa.”
The friends continued their journey. After many months they returned to the same place where one had saved the other. While reminiscing they argued and it turned violent when suddenly, for a trivial matter, the one who almost drown struck the one who had saved him.
The one who was hit got up, picked up a stick, and wrote in the sand, “Wanderer! In this place, Nagib broke the heart of his friend Mussa.”
One of Mussa’s men asked why he recorded his heroism in stone but his cruelty in the sand. He answered, “I shall cherish the memory of Nagib’s bravery forever. But the injury I just received I hope will fade from memory even before the words fade from the sand.”
- Rabbi Gilbert Rosenthal
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