At breakfast I spoke to an elder of the town. " It seems like the people with the big, inflated egos always win, while I'm really struggling. Why is this?"
  Richard raised his right hand from off his lap, and produced 2 pine cones. He laid them on the table before me. One large, one small.
  "See the small one?" he asked. "Not even an inch long. Do you think it comes from a large pine tree, or a small tree?"
  "It looks like it should come from the small tree," I said.
  "No, this tiny pine cone is produced by the largest of the pines, the Redwood. And some of these are 300 feet tall."
  "Really?"
  "That is 30 stories. And the big cone grew on a little, scrawny pine tree."
  "Wow." 
  "The big pine cone," he said, "it's like all the big egos around here, acting like they own everything, and everyone. They may seem big, but when the first winds come, they snap.
  "But the small pine cone. People may not see you as such a big man, but what they don't see is that you're a part of something so much larger than they, the great Redwood. And do you know what else?"
  "What?"
  "The pine cone holds the seeds. For this small one to release the seeds, there has got to be heat - a fire.
  "You've been struggling, and now that you've been through the fire, you release the seeds, your message. While your needs may seem large, be content with less. And the people will see that you are a part of something larger, the truth - and like the Redwood, you will endure."  
  Richard smiled behind gray whiskers. He got up and left. I gazed at the 2 pine cones, and slipped the small one into my pocket.