Hopelessly Stuck

Helmut Thielicke in How to Believe Again, writes:

I once heard of a child who was raising a frightful cry because he had shoved his hand into the opening of a very expensive Chinese vase and then couldn’t pull it out again. Parents and neighbors tugged with might on the child’s arm, with the poor fellow howling out loud all the while.

Finally, there was nothing left to do but to break the beautiful, expensive vase.

As the mournful heap of shards lay there, it became clear why the child had been so hopelessly stuck. His little fist grasped a paltry penny which he had spied in the bottom of the vase and which he, in childish ignorance, would not let go.