ISLAMABAD
mahtabbashir@gmail.com
One day a father of a well-heeled family too
k his son on a trip to the country-side with the firm purpose of showing his son how poor people can be. Both father and son spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor and underprivileged family.On their return from the trip, the father asked his son, "how was the trip, my sweetheart"? "It was great dad" came the reply. "Did you see how poor people can be"? The doting father asked. "oh yeah", the son responded. "So what did you learn from the trip", asked the father proudly.
The son answered, "I saw that we have one dog and they have four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end. We have a swanky chandelier 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 foods, but they grow their own. We have walls around our property to protect us; they have friends to protect them."
With this the 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 intensely what we don't have. What is one person's worthless object is another man's prized possession. It is all based upon one's perspective. Makes you wonder what would happen if we all give thanks for all the bounty we have by the grace of Almighty instead of worrying about wanting more. Take joy in what you have and see the treasure in it as saying goes, "there's enough for everyone's need but there's not enough for everyone's greed."
Published in daily THE NATION on 10th May, 2002
MUHAMMAD MAHTAB BASHIR
ISLAMABAD
mahtabbashir@gmail.com
Lalarukh from Rawalpindi emails:
Wed, 9 Apr 2008 22:04:34 -0700
very well said.
like it very much.
cheerz
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