This
is a powerful message for our modern society. We seem to have lost our
bearing & our sense of direction. 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. 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 laundry woman.
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 the young man. The youth cleaned his mother's hands slowly. His
tear fell as he did that. It was the first time he noticed that 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 the youth realized that it was this pair of hands that washed the
clothes every day 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 e yes, asked: "Can you tell
me what have you done and learned yesterday in your house? " The youth
answered, "I cleaned my mother's hand, and also finished cleaning all
the remaining clothes'
The Director asked, "Please tell me your feelings."
youth said:
1. I know now what appreciation is. Without my mother, there would not have been the successful me today.
2. By working together and helping my mother, only I now realize how difficult and tough it is to get something done.
3. I have come to appreciate the importance and value of family relationships.
The
director said, "This is what I am looking for 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 a person,
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 children instead?
You
can let your children 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, you want them to understand, no matter how
rich their parents are, one day their hair will
grow gray, same as the mother of that young person. The most important
thing is your children learn how to appreciate the effort and experience
the difficulty and learn how to work with others to get things done.
