There was a farmer who produced superior corn. He consistently took home the prize for the best corn crop. A newspaper writer once spoke with him and discovered some fascinating information about how he grew it.

The reporter learned that the farmer gave his neighbors some seed grain. The reporter asked, “How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbors when they enter corn in competition with yours each year?”

“Why, sir,” the farmer asked, “didn’t you know? Pollen from the maturing corn is gathered by the wind and carried from field to field. Cross-pollination will slowly reduce the quality of my corn if my neighbors grow subpar corn. I must assist my neighbors in growing good corn if I want to cultivate good corn myself.”

Likewise, our lives are. Because the value of a life is determined by the lives it touches, those who desire to live purposefully and successfully must contribute to enhancing the lives of others

And since everyone’s well-being is intertwined with everyone else’s, people who choose to be happy must also work to make others happy.