A Wise Man

There was a young man in the Near East who came to an oasis at the edge of town. Approaching an old graybeard at the well, he asked, “What kind of people dwell in this place?”
“What kind of people dwelt in the place from whence you came?” asked the old man.
“Ah! They were a bad and selfish lot,” replied the youth. “I was glad to leave them.”
“You’ll find the same here,” said the old man.
The old man tarried a while at the well, and later in the day another young man came to drink. Seeing the old man, the stranger put the same question to him, “What kind of people dwell in this place?”
Again the graybeard replied with the question, “What kind of people dwelt in the place from whence you came?
Said the young man, “They were a fine lot – honest, friendly, hospitable. I hated leaving them.”
“You’ll find the same here,” said the old man.
A lounger at the oasis who had heard both conversations challenged the old man “How could you give two different answers to the same question?”
“My son,” the wise man answered, “each carries in his heart the environment in which he lives. The one who found nothing good in the place from whence he came, will find the same here. The one who found friends in his former place will find friends here. We find in people what we ourselves prepared to see.”