A Room Filled With Balloons

BY MARK BURTON

A Room Filled With Balloons

Once a group of 500 people were attending a seminar. Suddenly the speaker stopped and decided to do a group activity. He started giving each person a balloon. Each person was then asked to write their name on it using a marker pen. Then all the balloons were collected and put in another room.

The people were then let into that room and asked to find the balloon which had their name written on it within 5 minutes. Everyone was frantically searching for their name, colliding with each other, pushing around others and there was utter chaos.

At the end of 5 minutes no one could find their own balloon.

Then, the speaker asked each person to randomly collect a balloon and give it to the person whose name was written on it. Within minutes everyone had their own balloon.

The speaker then began, “This is happening in our lives. Everyone is frantically looking for happiness all around, not knowing where it is.

Our happiness lies in the happiness of other people. Give them their happiness; you will get your own happiness. And this is the purpose of human life…the pursuit of happiness.”

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Mark Burton is the son of a preacher man, born in the U.S., raised in Northern Ireland, with a passion for the Word. A graduate from Point Loma University, he is a former youth director and currently follows his second passion: coaching ultimate frisbee and basketball for the Northwest School in Seattle. You can watch him play Major League Ultimate Frisbee with the Portland Stags. Follow him on Twitter.