What if you cut your stuff in half? Hannah Salwen did, by choice. Before I share her story, consider the king in this next story adapted from Heather Forrest’s collection Wisdom Tales…
Once there was a prince who was so sad, his eyes seemed full of sadness and tears. The king was concerned about his son. He got cooks to prepare the best dishes, toymakers to make the best toys, and teachers to share their most stimulating ideas, but to no avail. No gift or treasure could free the prince from his sadness.
The king called his advisors who offered this solution, “For the prince to be happy, you must dress him in the shirt of a truly happy man. Then he will be cured of all his sorrow.”
So the king set out on a journey to find a truly happy man.
He went through the village to the church. The priest always seemed to him to be a happy man. “Your, majesty,” the priest said, “to what do I owe this honor?”
The king said, “You are known as a good and holy man. I would like to know, would you accept the position of bishop should it come to you?”
“Certainly,” replied the priest.
“Never mind,” the king said and left disappointed. If the priest were truly happy, he wouldn’t want to be bishop.
The king went to another kingdom and visited another monarch. “My friend,” asked the king, “are you happy?”
“Most of the time, but not always, there are many nights I am restless because I am worry about losing all that I have worked so hard to gain.”
The king left for he knew that this man’s shirt would not do.
On his way back to his own kingdom, he happened to be riding by a farm. He heard singing. He stopped his carriage and followed the sound of the song. There he found a poor farmer, singing at the top of his lungs. The farmer looked up to see the king approaching and said, “Good day, sir!”
“Good day to you,” said the king. “You seem so happy today.”
“I am happy every day for I am blessed with a wonderful life.”
The king said, “Come with me to the castle. You will be surrounded with luxury and never want for anything again.”
“Thank you your majesty, but I would not give up my life for all the castles in the world.”
The king could not contain his joy. “My son is saved! All I need do is take this man’s shirt back to the castle with me!”
It was then the king looked and realized… the man wasn’t wearing a shirt.[2]
The king wanted to be happy, and he wanted his son to be happy. Though he searched far and wide, he couldn’t find any thing or person that could transform his son from despair to delight, or give peace to his own anxiety. Though sent in search of a shirt, he discovered a secret. Neither he nor his son needed the shirt of a truly happy man. They didn’t need a shirt at all. The power wasn’t outside the castle or within its walls. The power was, however, in his son and in him. They each had the power to create their own kingdoms of their lives. Power so simple anyone can learn.
Kevin Salwen picked up his fourteen year old daughter, Hannah, from a slumber party and was driving her home. At a red light, Hannah looked out their windows and saw a homeless man on the sidewalk holding up a sign asking for money to buy food. On the other side of the car, in the lane next to them, Hannah saw a black Mercedes.
She looked from the Mercedes, back to the homeless man, and from the homeless man back again to the Mercedes. Then she said to her father, “If that guy didn’t have such a nice car, then that guy could have a nice meal.”
It made sense to her. A less expensive car for one man could keep another off the street. Hannah was moved. She challenged her family.
“What do you want to do?” asked Hannah’s mother. “Sell our house?”
Her mother was joking. Hannah wasn’t. Hannah thought selling the house was a great idea.
They could trade their house in for a less expensive one, half the size and half the expense, and donate the difference to charity. And that’s what they did.
They contributed half the sale of their house to a non-profit called The Hunger Project where the money has gone to impact the lives of thousands in a positive way.
Hannah and her father teamed up to write a book about the project, The Power of Half. Hannah told The New York Times, “No one expects anyone to sell a house. That’s kind of a ridiculous thing to do. For us, the house was just something we could live without. It was too big for us.
Everyone has too much of something, whether it’s time, talent or treasure. Everyone does have their own half; you just have to find it.”
Though some accuse the Salwens of grandstanding, Kevin told The Times, “This is the most self-interested thing we have ever done. I’m thrilled that we can help others. I’m blown away by how much it has helped us.”
Their charity benefited their family; they gave away wealth and found health; they found addition through subtraction; through the loss of some of their stuff, they gained additional peace of mind; for them, for all of us, that is enough.
In your life, like theirs, where do you need to let go of some of your wealth to find health, where have you been caught up in more, more and need the power of enough?
A simple word. A powerful word. Enough.
Say it now. Enough.
Say it daily. Enough.
To hear Hannah’s story, watch the following Ted Talk or see her book below.
Books referenced in this post:
