Real Friendship

This is a story I first found in a collection of middle eastern stories:

A man and his wife were sitting at home when there was a knock at the door. The man answered the door to find one of his friends standing there, looking very troubled.
"What's wrong?", he asked.
His friend replied, "I am so sorry to trouble you, but if I don't get $5000.00 by tomorrow, I will lose my business and my house. Can you help me?"
The man said, "Please don't worry, I will bring you $5000.00 by this evening."
His friend left, much relieved.
The man gathered up what cash he had, and even took some things of value and sold them, but all he could raise was $3000.00. So he went to all his neighbors and friends, asking to borrow whatever they could lend him.
Eventually, he had $5000.00, and took it to his friend.
His friend thanked him profusely, and said he would be forever grateful. The man told his friend it was nothing, and he should repay the money whenever he could.
The man returned home, sat in a chair, buried his head in his hands and cried.
His wife asked, "Are you crying because you are worried that we will not be able to repay what we have borrowed for your friend?"
The man looked up and said, "No, I am crying because my dearest friend in all the world was in need, and I did not know until he came to my door and told me so."


Wouldn't it be wonderful if we all felt this way about our friends?