This Too Shall Pass

I found this excerpt from NST. I think it is interesting and I would like to share it with you guys.

King Solomon, one day, in an attempt to humble his most trusted minister, said: "There is a certain ring that I want you to bring to me. I give you six months to find it.

"If it exists anywhere on earth, your majesty I will find it," replied the minister. "But what makes the ring so special?"

"It has magical powers," answered the king. "If a happy man looks at it, he becomes sad, and if a sad man looks at it, he becomes happy."

Solomon knew that no such ring existed in the world, but he wished to give his minister a little taste of humility.

Spring passed and then summer, and still the minister had no idea where he could find the ring. On the night before his deadline, he was walking in one of the poorest quarters of Jerusalem when he passed by a merchant with his wares on a shabby carpet.

"Have you by any chance heard of a magic ring that makes the happy wearer forget his joy and the broken-hearted wearer forget his sorrows?" asked the minister.

He watched the old merchant take a plain gold ring from his carpet and engrave something on it. When the minister read the words on the ring, he smiled.

That night, Solomon asked the minister: "Well, my friend. Have you found what I sent you after?"

All the ministers laughed and Solomon himself smiled.

To everyone's surprise, the minister held up a small gold ring and declared, "Here it is, your majesty!"

As soon as Solomon read the inscription, the smile vanished from his face. The jeweller had written four words: "This too shall pass."

At that moment, Solomon realised that all his wisdom and fabulous wealth and tremendous power were but fleeting things, for one day he would be nothing but dust. He became sad.

But for people facing problems, that same message becomes their beacon of hope.

Remember this story, either you are fleeting in the sky or facing hardship in life, that all great things will come to an end and that every clouds has its own silver lining.