Photo of a farm courtesy of Photobucket
My brother, Paul, who is a resident of Singapore e-mailed me a slide show titled "What It Means to be Poor" and I can't find the original page of this in the internet. The power point presentation says that the author is Usuario. If it was really you who authored this story, it is a great lesson to be learned and I applaud you for it. I found the same story in a web page with the same title (http://www.naute.com/thinkery/poor.phtml) and here goes:
One day a father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country
with the firm purpose of showing his son how poor people can be. They spent
a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very
poor family.
On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, "How was the trip?"
"It was great, Dad." "Did you see how poor people can be?" the father asked.
"Oh Yeah" said the son. "So what did you learn from the trip?" asked the father.
The son answered, "I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have a
pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no
end. We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night.
Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon. We have a
small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight. We
have servants who serve us, but they serve others. We buy our food, but they
grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends
to protect them."
With this the boy's father was speechless. Then his son added, "Thanks dad
for showing me how poor we are."
Too many times we forget what we have and concentrate on what we don't have.
What is one person's worthless object is another's prize possession. It is all
based on one's perspective. Makes you wonder what would happen if we all
gave thanks for all the bounty we have, instead of worrying about wanting more.
Take joy in all you have, especially your friends. Pass this message on.
with the firm purpose of showing his son how poor people can be. They spent
a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very
poor family.
On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, "How was the trip?"
"It was great, Dad." "Did you see how poor people can be?" the father asked.
"Oh Yeah" said the son. "So what did you learn from the trip?" asked the father.
The son answered, "I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have a
pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no
end. We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night.
Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon. We have a
small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight. We
have servants who serve us, but they serve others. We buy our food, but they
grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends
to protect them."
With this the boy's father was speechless. Then his son added, "Thanks dad
for showing me how poor we are."
Too many times we forget what we have and concentrate on what we don't have.
What is one person's worthless object is another's prize possession. It is all
based on one's perspective. Makes you wonder what would happen if we all
gave thanks for all the bounty we have, instead of worrying about wanting more.
Take joy in all you have, especially your friends. Pass this message on.
Author Unknown
Isn't this a great lesson learned? How ironic for a parent to teach his child, when he should learn first. Well, the photo slide sent to me is really so much better, and here's the link:
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1 comments:
I received that awhile back in my email too and loved it. The father learned a valuable lesson, one his son knew at a tender age.
Take care & God bless!
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