THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HEAVEN AND HELL

I remember reading a parable, once, about the difference between Heaven and Hell

It was appropriate all those years ago and is appropriate today as well.

When a man named George entered the Pearly Gates, St. Peter was there to reassure 

“Before you settle in, he said, let me take you on a tour?”

First they visited Heaven where George apparently observed

“Wow, what a beautiful banquet hall--Hey! And dinner’s being served.”

He noticed scrumptious entrees filled the hall, everywhere was a multitude;

In fact the tables sagged in the middle under the weight of all the food.

Everyone was laughing and talking, there was contentment in this well-fed throng.

There was one curiosity, however--they all held forks that were 4 feet long!

Next, St. Peter took him to Hell, and here George once again observed

“This banquet hall is as beautiful as Heaven’s--and again dinner’s being served.”

For a second time George noticed scrumptious entrees, another multitude

And the tables in Hell were also sagging under the weight of all that food.

But in Hell everyone looked hungry there was no contentment in this emaciated throng

And there was that curiosity again--all their forks were 4 feet long.

“What’s going on here?” George asked St. Peter, “I do not understand?

They serve the same food in Heaven and Hell--and what’s with those long forks in their hands?”

St. Peter smiled “There is one fundamental distinction, one difference between Heaven and Hell.”

(This is why I mentioned in the beginning it’s appropriate today as well.)

In Hell people care only about themselves you see they haven’t found a way

To get the food from those forks to their mouths--and they go hungry every day.

In Heaven people care less about themselves, they see everyone as sister or brother

And when they are hungry they pick up their forks and, simply, feed each other.