A story goes that two friends were walking through the desert. During some point of the journey they had an argument, and one friend slapped the other one in the face. The one who got slapped was hurt, but without saying anything, he wrote in the sand with his finger: "TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE."

They kept on walking until they found an oasis¹, where they decided² to take a bath. The one, who had been slapped, got stuck in the mire³ and started drowning, but the friend saved him. After the friend recovered from the near drowning, he wrote on a stone with a knife: "TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE."

The friend who had slapped and saved his best friend asked him with surprise, "After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand and now, you write on a stone, why?"

The other friend replied: "When someone hurts us, we should write it down in sand where winds of forgiveness can erase⁴ it away. But, when someone does something good for us, we must engrave⁵ it in stone where no wind can ever erase it."

中文：

有这样一个故事：两个朋友正徒步在沙漠中旅行，途中两人发生了争执，其中一个扇了另一个人一记耳光，那位被扇的朋友很伤心，然而他一言不发地用手指在沙滩上写下了：“今天我最好的朋友扇了我一个耳光。”

他们继续往前走，终于来到了一片绿洲。他们决定洗去身上的浮尘。先前被扇耳光的那位一不小心陷入深潭之中，差点被淹死，他的朋友连忙相救。被救起后，他用一把小刀在石头上刻下了：“今天我最好的朋友救了我一命。”

先前打他耳光，后来又救了他的这位朋友好奇地问：“为什么我打了你以后，你写在沙滩上，而现在却刻在石头上呢？”

朋友回答道：“当受到伤害时，要写在沙滩上，让风来吹散它、抚平它；而受到的恩惠则必须刻在石头上，任何风都不能抹灭它！”