Resentment

A story tells of a merchant in a small town who had identical twin sons.

The boys worked for their father in the department store he owned and,
when he died, they took over the store.

Everything went well until the day a dollar bill disappeared. One of
the brothers had left the bill on the cash register and walked outside with a
customer. When he returned, the money was gone.

He asked his brother, "Did you see that dollar bill on the cash register?"
His brother replied that he had not. But the young man kept probing and
questioning. He would not let it alone. "Dollar bills just don't get up
and walk away! Surely you must have seen it!" There was subtle accusation in
his voice. Tempers began to rise. Resentment set in. Before long, a deep
and bitter chasm divided the young men. They refused to speak. They finally
decided they could no longer work together and a dividing wall was built
down the center of the store. For twenty years hostility and bitterness
grew, spreading to their families and to the community.

Then one day a man in an automobile licensed in another state stopped
in front of the store. He walked in and asked the clerk, "How long have you
been here?"

The clerk replied that he'd been there all his life. The customer said,
"I must share something with you. Twenty years ago I was "riding the
rails" and came into this town in a boxcar. I hadn't eaten for three days. I
came into this store from the back door and saw a dollar bill on the cash
register.

I put it in my pocket and walked out. All these years I haven't been able to
forget that. I know it wasn't much money, but I had to come back and ask
your forgiveness."

The stranger was amazed to see tears well up in the eyes of this
middle-aged man. "Would you please go next door and tell that same story
to the man in the store?" he said. Then the man was even more amazed to
see two middle-aged men, who looked very much alike, embracing each other and
weeping together in the front of the store.

After twenty years, the brokenness was mended. The wall of resentment
that divided them came down.

It is so often the little things that finally divide people- words spoken
in haste; criticisms; accusations; resentments. And once divided, they
may never come together again.

The solution, of course, is to let it go. There is really nothing
particularly profound about learning to let go of little resentments. But
for fulfilling and lasting relationships, letting them go is a must.
Refuse to carry around bitterness and you may be surprised at how much
energy you have left for building bonds with those you love.

Source : Unknown