A friend of mine sent me the following story requesting me to forward it to as many as possible and I decided to use this blog for that purpose with the fervent hope that this blog will be viewed at least by a handful of friends who value the word "Appreciation"
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One young academically excellent person went to apply for a managerial position in a big company. He passed the first interview, the Director did the last interview, made the last decision. The Director discovered from the CV that the youth's academic achievements were excellent all the way, from the secondary school until the postgraduate research, never had a year when he did not score.
The Director asked "Did you obtain any scholarships in School? the youth answered "none".
The Director asked "Was it your father who paid for your school fees?. The youth answered. My father passed away when I was one year old, it was my mother who paid for my school fees. The Director asked "Where did your mother work?". The youth answered "My mother worked as a clothes cleaner. The Director requested the youth to show his hands. The youth showed a pair of hands that were smooth and perfect. The Director asked "Have you ever helped your mother wash the clothes before?". The youth answered "Never, my mother always wanted me to study and read more books. Furthermore, my mother can wash clothes faster than me. The Director said, "I have a request. When you go back today, go and clean your mother's hands, and then see me tomorrow morning".
The youth felt that his chance of landing the job was high. When he went back, he happily requested his mother to let him clean her hands. His mother felt strange, happy but with mixed feelings, she showed her hands to her son. The youth cleaned his mother's hand slowly. Tears rolled down from his eyes as he did that. It was the first time that he noticed his mother's hands were so wrinkled and there were so many bruises in her hands. Some bruises were so painful that his mother shivered when they were cleaned with water. This was the first time that the youth realised that it was this pair of hands that washed the clothes everyday to enable him to pay the school fee. The bruises in the mother's hands were the price that the mother had to pay for his graduation, academic excellence and his future. After finishing the cleaning of his mother's hands, the youth quietly washed all the remaining clothes for his mother. That night, mother and son talked for a very long time. Next morning, the youth went to the Director's office.
The Director noticed the tears in the youth's eyes, asked: "Can you tell me what have you done and learned yesterday in your house?". The youth answered, "I cleaned my mother's hands, and also finished clearing all the remaining clothes" The Director asked, "please tell me your feelings" The youth said, Number 1, I know now what is appreciation. Without my mother, there would not be the successful me today. Number 2, by working together and helping my mother, only I now realise how difficult and tough it is to get something done. Number 3, I have come to appreciate the importance and value of family relationship. The Director said, "This is what I am looking for one to be my manager. I want to recruit a person who can appreciate the help of others, a person who knows the sufferings of others to get things done, and a person who would not put money as his only goal in life. You are hired.
Later on, this young person worked very hard and received the respect of his subordinates. Every employee worked diligently and as a team. The company's performance improved tremendously.
A child, who has been protected and habitually given whatever he wanted, would develop "entitlement mentality" and would always put himself first. He would be ignorant of his parent's efforts. When he starts work, he assumes that every person must listen to him, and when he becomes a manager, he would never know the sufferings of his employees and would always blame others. For this kind of people, who may be good academically, may be successful for a while, but eventually would not feel sense of achievement. He will grumble and be full of hatred and fight for more. If we are this kind of protective parents, are we really showing love or are we destroying the kid instead?.
You can let your kid live in a big house, eat a good meal, learn piano, watch a big screen TV. But when you are cutting grass, please let them experience it. After a meal, let them wash their plates and bowls together with their brothers and sisters. It is not because you do not have money to hire a maid, but it is because you want to love them in the right way. You want them to understand, no matter how rich their parents are, one day their hair will grow grey same as the mother of that young person. The most important thing is your kid learns how to appreciate the effort and experience the difficulty and learns the ability to work with others to get things done.
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You would have sent or forwarded umpteen mails and messages to many and many of them would have communicated with you too on similar subjects but try to read this story and encourage others to read whenever and wherever possible......that may change somebody's fate and even destiny. Thank you for your valuable time.
