This is a powerful message in our modern society. We seemed to have lost our hearing and our sense of direction.
One young acedemically excellent person went to apply for a managerial position in a big company. He passed the first interview, the director who 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. 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?' `My father pased 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 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 the kid. 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 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 and his future.
After finishing cleaning of his mother's hands, the youth quietly washed all the remaining clothes for his mother.
Next morning, the youth went to the Director's office. The Director noticed the tears in the youth's eyes and asked: `Can you tell me what have you done and learned yesterday in your house?'
The youth said `Number 1, I know now what is appreciation. Without my mother, there would not the successful me today. Number 2, by working together and helping my mother, only I now realize 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 to be my manager. I want to recruit a person who can appreciate the help of others, a person who knows the suffering of others to get things done, and a person who would not put money as his only goal in life. You are hired.'
Something for sharing, good message.
