Reb Mendel often repeated this episode and said, "A person came to this world to serve Hashem and pass tests. But if he forgets his mission and becomes occupied with other foolish pursuits, what is the purpose of his life?
We can also explain the Chazal (Eiruvin 54.) דמיא הילולא כבי עלמא האי, "This world is like a chasunah hall" in the following way: Friends of the chasan and kallah, and family friends, sit and eat a full meal at a wedding. Family members eat a portion of the meal, but not much more. The very close family, such as the brothers and sisters of the chasan and kallah, eat even less than that. They are happy with the simchah, and their mind is on this joy, not on the food, and they are busy helping their parents greet all the guests. The parents of the chasan and kallah eat even less. They hardly have a piece of challah... and the chasan and kallah themselves eat the least of all.
The nimshal is that this world is like a chasunah. Those whose focus is serving Hashem and making Him a nachas ruach aren't too involved in worldly matters. They are involved in the purpose for which they came to this world. Those who are interested in enjoying this world, this shows that they aren't close...
A person came to a veterinarian with a sick donkey. The doctor said, "I have a powerful drug that will put your donkey back on its feet in a day or two, but it is expensive."
The man paid the money and brought the medicine to give a shot of it to his donkey. A day or two passed, and nothing changed. He complained to the veterinarian: "Why did you lie to me? Your medicine doesn't work. It doesn't do anything, and I paid so much for it!"
The veterinarian sold him another medicine and said, "This one should do the trick." He charged a very low price because he had rachmanus on this person who had already paid so much money on a medicine that, for some reason, didn't work.
A couple of days later, the man returned to the vet again and said the second medicine didn't work either. The veterinarian said, "Let me go with you to your donkey to see why it is so ill that it isn't responding to the medications."
Even before they reached the donkey, the vet smelled the heavy odor of a corpse. "It died a month ago," the man admitted.
The vet replied, "My medications can only help animals that want to get up and walk. But for animals who have no interest at all in getting up, the medicines won't help.
The nimshal is that there are segulos for improvement. There are times in the year that are mesugal for growth. However, these only work for those who want to improve. For those who are okay to stay the same, none of these matters will help.