There once was a man who was deeply contemplating Heaven and hell. He asked God to help him understand. God sent an Angel to take him on a little trip. The Angel brought him to an elevator and down, down, down to hell they went.
When the doors opened, the man saw a huge banquet table. Seated around the table were horribly miserable looking people. They were starving, not much more than skin and bone, and yet the table was full of every food imaginable. The man quickly turned to the Angel and said, "Why don't they eat?"
The Angel said, "Watch closely." The man watched and realized that the utensils the people were trying to eat with were six feet long. Try as they may, they couldn't get the food into their mouths. They would stab the food, try to flip the food into their mouths, but the food fell to the floor, the wall...seemingly everywhere but into their mouths. When someone tried to reach out with their hands to get the food, it instantly turned to stone.
A table flush with food and everyone was starving. Soon the man couldn't take any more of this misery and said, "I've seen enough, can we go see heaven now?" "Yes," the Angel said, so they got in the elevator and shot up, up, and up.
When the door opened, the man was astonished. Before them was an almost identical scene. Another table full of every imaginable food. Huge six foot utensils, and people seated all around poking at the food. The shocking difference here was that everyone was laughing, happy, joyous and well fed. He then saw a woman seated at the table try and use her hand to catch a carrot that was rolling off the table. As she caught it, it turned to stone. She tossed it into a pile and they all laughed.
The man frustrated said, "I don't get it, everything is the same but these people are so happy. Why?"
"Watch and see," the Angel said with a gentle smile. The man turned to look at the people again and watched. Then at once it hit him. There was ONE SIMPLE DIFFERENCE. WHILE THE PEOPLE IN HELL WERE TRYING TO USE THE UTENSILS TO FEED THEMSELVES, THE PEOPLE HERE IN HEAVEN WERE USING THE UTENSILS TO FEED ONE ANOTHER.