It happened once that Vladimir, an illiterate Siberian peasant suddenly struck gold. Soon afterward, he had to take a business trip to Moscow. Knowing that a horse and wagon wouldn't be able to make that long trip, he had to use the new mode of transportation -- a "train."
And so Vladimir goes to the train station and the ticket lady offers him a first, second, or third class ticket. Since money was hardly an issue here, he buys himself the most expensive choice, a first class ticket.
This was Vladimir's first time traveling with a train and so he was a bit unsure what to do. He decided that if he'd just copy what the other travelers are doing, he'd be fine. And so when he saw three passengers boarding the very last car on the train, he followed them into the car, and when each one climbed beneath one of the benches in the car, he did the same. Unfortunately, he wasn't fully familiar with proper stowaway protocol, and his feet jutted out across the aisle.
It was dark and lonely beneath the bench, and Vladimir quickly dozed off. He didn't feel the train start to move nor did he hear the conductor entering the car. He did, however, feel a sharp kick to his shins, and the startled peasant was hoisted out by the burly conductor.
"You moron, you think this is a free ride??" the conductor yelled."You need a ticket to ride this train!"
"What's the problem, sir," Vladimir responded. "I have a ticket."
To the astonishment of all, he pulls out a ticket - a first class ticket no less!
The conductor asked the obvious: "Sir, you have an expensive first class ticket; pray tell me why you are lying under a bench in the third class car?!"
"Because that's what the others were doing..." he responded.
We too travel through life's journey. At Mount Sinai we were given a first class ticket. And one day the Conductor will want to know whether we used it to its fullest or not.
