The Third Pig

A popular story passed on about Mahatma Gandhi goes something like this: A woman brought her son to see Gandhi because he was eating too much sugar. And despite her vigilance, the boy could not seem to give up eating sugar, even though it was bad for him. And so the woman asked Gandhi if he would speak with the boy about his problem. Gandhi replied, “No, but bring him back in a week.” And so in a week the woman returned and once again petitioned Gandhi to speak with her son about his rather bad habit of eating too much sugar. Gandhi welcomed the boy and had a discussion with him about giving up sugar. The boy seemed affected by Gandhi’s advice and the woman thanked him deeply. As she turned to leave she asked him one final question, “Why did you see him today and not last week?” And Gandhi replied, “Because last week I was eating sugar.”