Once upon a time, in Egypt, there was a much beloved camel merchant named Hamid. Hamid was known throughout the land as not only a connoisseur of fine camels, but a kind-hearted, generous, and wealthy man. So, when, one hot summer day, at the age of 55, he had a sudden heart attack and fell off his camel, the entire country went into mourning.

In no time at all, thousands of people gathered at his estate for the funeral and celebration of his life. When the gathering was over, Hamid's Chief Executor sat down with the camel merchants three sons for the ritual readig of the will.

The boys were stunned by the size of their inheritance, but of all the treasures bequeathed to them, the most precious were their father's prized camels -- 17 of them, which he requested be divided in the following way: one-half to his eldest son, one-third to his middle son, and one ninth to his youngest.

But since 17 cannot be divided up equally in this fashion, the three sons began arguing, then fighting. Realizing they needed help to resolve their disagreement, they called for the local wise man who came immediately.

After listening to each of the three sons make their case, he explained he needed some time to think about the matter and would return, God willing, in an hour.

Sixty minutes later, three sons, in the middle of yet another argument, look up and see the wise man, riding a camel, approaching them.

"Boys," he exclaimed, upon dismounting, "I have so much respect for your father that I’ve decided to donate one of my own camels to your inheritance. Now you have eighteen.

"Let's see..." he said, stroking his beard. "Half of 18 is nine... so the eldest of you will inherit nine camels. And... hmmm... one third of 18 is six, so the middle son will inherit six... and one third of 18 is two which means the youngest of you will inherit the remaining two.

Then he looked up at the sky, paused, and spoke again.

"Based on my calculations, 9 + 6 + 2 = 17 -- which is the exact number of camels your father bequeathed to you. That leaves one camel left over -- mine -- so i guess I'll get back on him and continue on my way. May Allah be with you, oh sons of Hamid. Enjoy your inheritance!"

And with those words, the Wise Man waved, bowed, continued on his his journey home.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Every problem has a solution, even if the solution may not be immediately obvious. Your challenge is to think about your problem differently than you usually do, in service to coming up with your 18th camel solution. It's possible. It is. You just need to let go of some old assumptions, challenge the status quo, and look at things from a new angle.

What pressing problem of yours, these days, do you need to approach differently? Your next step? Frame your problem as a question, beginning with the words "How can I?"

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at May 16, 2017 08:35 AM

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