 The Parable of the Smuggler There once was a poor man who led a donkey from one kingdom to another. Every day he needed to cross a river that was guarded by men from the kingdom he wished to enter. The border guards suspected he was smuggling something, so they would always inspect him and his donkey thoroughly. They'd search through his pockets, the saddlebags and the donkeys, but never found anything. As time went on, they saw the man had much nicer clothing and bought a larger house. They knew something must be up and they inspected him even more thoroughly. But in the end, they didn't find anything on him. After 30 years of this, one of the border guards finally retired. One day, as he was walking through the village, he saw the old man who would pass with the donkeys. He ran up to him and told him he was no longer a border guard and could no longer arrest the man. He pleaded to know, for his own peace of mind, what was the man smuggling all those years ago. The man acquiesced and agreed to tell him now that he could not get arrested. It was the donkeys. I was smuggling donkeys, he said. The guard was shocked and would never have guessed. Oh boy, this is a fun one because the answer was in plain sight. It was easy to look over. This parable teaches us that not everything is always as it seems and sometimes we need to inspect things from every angle in order to understand them. Sometimes the seemingly most hidden things are in plain sight, just like the classic saying, it was hidden right under my nose. It's easy to search deeply for something that is simple and right in front of us. Not everything is so complicated in life. There are many simple truths that are, in the end, just a simple truth. Perhaps there is also something to be said of appearances. The guards assumed the man was a smuggler because he first appeared poor and when they see him increasing in wealth, this just reassures them of their presumption. For all they know, the man could have been working another job and got his house this way. Because of this, they actively search for something of value, something that would otherwise be out of place on a poor man and never consider the things right in front of them. Sometimes we must approach a situation from every angle before coming to a decision. Consider things in the context of each other and how they appear and ultimately always remember that the simplest answer is most often the right one.