Zen Story: Worry

 Death was walking toward a city one morning. 

A man asked, “What are you going to do there?”  

“I’m going to take one hundred people,” Death replied.  

“That’s horrible!” the man said. 

“That’s the way it is,” Death said.  

“Well, we’ll see about that,” said the man as he hurried to warn everyone he could about Death’s plan. 

As evening fell, he met Death again.  

“You told me you were going to take one hundred people,” the man said. “Why did one thousand die?”  

“I kept my word,” Death answered. “I took only one hundred. Worry took the rest.”