GRAPES.

He had no choice but to fly on. It had already become noon and the sun was burning down. Pepe further looked for a suitable planet on which he could land. He wanted to stretch his legs and then relax, because after all, he could only sit on grandma's carpet. He had not long to wait.

grapes

Soon he noticed a planet, which seemed to consist of many small planets. When he flew closer, he realized that it was a grape-planet. This planet was wonderful with beautiful brown-red-green vine leaves above and many glorious grapes below. Each one nicer and juicier than the other. Pepe landed on top of a thick grape. He looked for a comfortable place to lay down comfortably. When he had found such, he laid down: his legs fully extended and his arms folded behind his head, just as you lay down to dream on a meadow. And he dreamed...

Suddenly he heard someone whining and grumbling. The grumbling was very quiet but just loud enough to hear.

Pepe straightened up and listened closely. The wailing came right from the top, not far from him. He wondered if he should go out or whether he should stay and wait. But just at that moment he saw a little fat man pushing backwards and forwards, laden with parcels, boxes and cartons behind a grape.

Although the man was hardly able to keep things together, he did not seem to be willing to want to give up any of the stuff. And so he pushed himself moaning and bleating partly backwards partly sideways. A round box escaped his small, thick fingers and rolled in front of Pepe's feet. The little fat man turned around and was surprised to see someone on his planet.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead, pushing his hat backward and asked, "What are you doing on my planet?"

"Hi, I just wanted to get some rest," Pepe said quietly, handing the little fat man the round box. "I am Pepe, by the way. You have one of the most beautiful planets I've ever seen."

"I am Raini," the little fat man introduced himself.

"Can I ask you something, Raini?" asked Pepe.

"Sure!" replied Raini, and he was all ears.

"You have such a great planet but I have heard you lament and complain. What were you complaining about?" asked Pepe.

"The problem, Pepe, is exactly my planet. It is so beautiful and it has so many grapes that I just cannot make up my mind on which I shall settle down. Once I like one grape and I move there, unpack my things and look around, I see another grape that appears even more beautiful to me. And I think then, man, the one over there is so beautiful, I have to move over there. Then I move, grab the stuff and sit down comfortably. Finally, I'm on the finest grape in the world. But as soon as I look around, I see another nice, thick, juicy grape. And I think again: “Man, this is it. This one is it, actually. And I want to move again," said Raini.

"So you are moving constantly, packing and unpacking, and are unhappy," said Pepe.

"It is exactly like that. That's why I’m whining," said Raini complaining again.

"Would you like to have neighbors?" asked Pepe.

"Oh yeah. That would be great. Then I would have only one grape for me and would not have to move permanently!" Raini's eyes lit up.

"And then you would have quite a lot of friends with whom you could share your planet," Pepe said.

"What's "to share"?" asked Raini.

"If you say something good to others or you do something good for them, it will become twice as much. If something bad happens to you, and you tell about it the others, it become twice as little," explained Pepe.

"Does that mean that when I share my worries, when I share them quite often, they become very very small and disappear, and when I share my joy, it will get bigger and bigger?" Raini asked.

"So it is, Raini," confirmed Pepe. "Look, I have shared with you the idea about neighbors and you have stopped whining."

"Yes, it really works!" said Raini excited. But then he became sad again. "I have no one with whom I can share something," he added softly.

Pepe thought about how he could help Raini. And then he recalled the little pea planet with a lot of people.

"I have an idea," declared Pepe. "Not far from here, there is a planet. This planet is tiny and there are many little men who live there, and they have barely any room to stand. I could ask them if they would like to move to your planet."

"This is already your second good idea today," Raini rejoiced. "Could I come with you? I might share with them!"

"Of course, my dear Raini. Jump on the carpet!" said Pepe, who occupied already a place in the front.

And off they flew to the pea planet. With the wind in their hair they dashed to the small people. The fat little Raini had to take off his hat and he was holding it under his arm, otherwise he would have lost it because the carpet was moving very fast.

They flew several times back and forth between the pea and the grapes planet and brought a little man over to the grapes planet every time. Finally, on each grape, there lived one little man. Only one grape was not occupied - they called it the guest-grape. On the thickest grape Raini had unpacked his things. All were very happy and the happiest was the little fat Raini. He now had many friends and the friends were his neighbors. Now he liked his home not because he lived on the thickest grape, but because he had so many great neighbors.

On the pea planet, also, everybody was now happy. There were exactly three little men who stayed on the pea planet. All had now plenty of space, both the inhabitants of the pea planet, as well as the inhabitants of the grape planet. There was so much space that they could invite guests. And so the planet inhabitants have visited each other every week.

Guest-grape was almost always occupied, because one of the three little men was always on a visit to see Raini and his many neighbors.

After such a busy day, full of adventures and travelling, all went to sleep satisfied on the grape and on the pea planet. And they have never before slept so well, deeply, and so comfortably.

Pepe slept, obviously, on the guest-grape. How practical such a guest-grape is, isn’t it?

My key takeaways:

1.    SHARING IS THE BEST MEDICINE.

2.  SHARING STARTS WITH GIVING AND ENDS WITH GETTING.

3.   SHARING IS LIKE BECOMING PART OF THE WHOLE.

Based on this book: https://amzn.eu/d/57vZQsU

How to lead now…