a friend sent this to me today - thought I'd share:

Good Corn

There was a farmer who grew award-winning corn. Each year he entered his
corn in the state fair where it won a blue ribbon. One year a newspaper
reporter interviewed him and learned something interesting about how he
grew it.

The reporter discovered that the farmer shared his seed corn with his
neighbors. "How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your
neighbors when they are entering corn in competition with yours each
year?" the reporter asked.

"Why sir," said the farmer, "didn't you know? The wind picks up pollen
from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If my neighbors
grow inferior corn, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of
my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors grow good
corn."

He is very much aware of the connectedness of life. His corn cannot
improve unless his neighbor's corn also improves.

So it is in other dimensions. Those who choose to be at peace must help
their neighbors to be at peace. Those who choose to live well must help
others to live well, for the value of a life is measured by the lives it
touches. And those who choose to be happy must help others to find
happiness, for the welfare of each is bound up with the welfare of all.

The lesson for each of us is this: if we are to grow good corn, we must
help our neighbors grow good corn.

Author Unknown