A boy was walking along a road one day when he spotted a ten-cent coin shining in the dust. He picked it up and thought, "This coin is mine And it cost me nothing!"

He couldn't help beaming as he continued walking. He thought, "I'm sure there're more coins lying around. I just have to look out for them."

From that day, wherever he walked, he kept his head down, his eyes
closely surveying the ground for more coins - and perhaps even greater treasure!

The years passed as if in a blink of an eye, and as the boy continued down his path, the sun and moon brought the light and dark over him in a rapid and whimsical manner. Kind of like in a stop-action-clay-animation film by Tim Burton.

The boy was now an old man. As he sat by the window of his rickety shed, he unfurled the handkerchief in which he kept his life's hoard of picked-up change.

He counted slowly just to make sure. One dollar, two dollars, three
dollars? $12.82! And when he'd finished counting, his treasure would bring the smile to his face again, lighting it up as if he were still the boy who'd picked up his first ten-cent coin.

His thoughts travelled back in time "This coin is mine! And it cost me nothing!"

During his lifetime, he collected a total of $12.82. He kept his treasure safe, delighting in the fact that the money had cost him nothing. Or had it?

In the course of scouting out his treasure, he had missed seeing the full beauty of 35127 sunsets, the splendour of 327 rainbows, the beauty of white clouds floating overhead in crystal blue skies, leaves fluttering against a backdrop of brilliant sunshine, and
possibly the joy of a wife and children had he only taken his eyes off the ground to truly see the real joys of life.

A life? worth all of twelve dollars and eighty-two cents.