兩個朋友結伴穿越沙漠，旅途中二人突然吵了起來，其中一個摑了對方一記耳光。被打的人感到自己受了傷害，但什么也沒有說，只是在沙地上寫下了這樣一句話：“今天我最好的朋友摑了我耳光。他們繼續前行，看見到處綠洲，他們正打算在那里洗澡時，剛才被打的人不小心陷入了泥潭，開始深陷，他的朋友救了他。
等他從幾近淹死的邊緣蘇醒過來后，他在石頭上刻下：“今天我最好的朋友救了我的命。”他的朋友問：“為什么我傷你之后，你在沙子上寫字，現在卻把字刻在石頭上?” 他回答道：“當有人傷害了我們，我們應該把它寫進沙里，寬恕的風會把仇恨抹去。而當有人為我們做了好事，我們應當把它刻在石頭上，沒有風可以將它抹去。”
The 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 felt hurt， but without saying anything， wrote in the sand： "Today my best friend slapped me in the face."
They kept on walking until they found an oasis， where they decided to take a bath. The one who had been slapped got stuck in the mire and started drowning， but the friend saved him.
After he recovered from the near drowning， he wrote on a stone： "Today my best friend saved my life."
The friend who had slapped and saved his best friend asked him， "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 erase it away. But when someone does something good for us， we must engrave it in stone where no wind can ever erase it."