One young man went to apply for a managerial position in a big company. He passed the initial interview, and now would meet th
e director for the final interview.
The director discovered from his CV that the youth's academic
achievements were excellent. He asked, "Did you obtain any scholarships
in school?" the youth answered "no".
" Was it your father who paid for your school fees?"
"My father passed away when I was one year old, it was my mother who paid for my school fees.” he replied.
" Where did your mother work?"
"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.
" Have you ever helped your mother wash the clothes before?"
"Never, my mother always wanted me to study and read more books. Besides, my mother can wash clothes faster than me.
The director said, "I have a request. When you go home 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 home, he asked 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 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 winced when he touched it.
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
fees. The bruises in the mother's hands were the price that the mother
had to pay for his education, his school activities and his future.
After cleaning his mother 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, when he 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'
“I know now what appreciation is. Without my mother, I would not be who
I am today. By helping my mother, only now do I realize how difficult
and tough it is to get something done on your own. And I have come to
appreciate the importance and value of helping one’s family.
The
director said, "This is what I am looking for in a 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.”
This young person worked very hard, and received the respect of his
subordinates. Every employee worked diligently and worked as a team. The
company's performance improved tremendously.
A child, who has
been protected and habitually given whatever he wanted, would develop an
"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, they may
be successful for a while, but eventually they would not feel a sense of
achievement. They 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 our children instead?
You can let your
child live in a big house, eat a good meal, learn piano, watch on 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 a right way. 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 child learns how to appreciate the effort
and experience the difficulty and learns the ability to work with others
to get things done.
Try to forward this story to as many as possible...this may change somebody's fate.
