One day, the father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the express purpose of showing him how poor people live. They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family. On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, "How was the trip?"
"It was great, Dad."
"Did you see how poor people live?" the father asked.
"Oh, yeah," said the son.
"So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?" asked the father.
The son answered:
"I saw that:- We have one dog, and they had four.The boy's father was speechless.
- We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden, and they have a creek that has no end.
- We have imported lanterns 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 food, but they grow theirs.
- We have walls around our property to protect us; they have friends to protect them."
Then his son added, "Thanks, Dad, for showing me how poor we are."
Isn't perspective a wonderful thing? Makes you wonder what would happen if we all gave thanks for everything we have, instead of worrying about what we don't have.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Perspective on Poverty
Yesterday my brother sent me a story that had been sent to him. Obviously, it originated somewhere on the Internet, but I cannot find it in order to give proper credit. Nonetheless, I posted it on my Blest Atheist website because I was so taken with it. Although I usually do not duplicate posts, I will repeat it here since I think you may be taken with it, too.
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About Me
- Elizabeth Mahlou
- I am the mother of 4 birth children (plus 3 others who lived with us) and grandmother of 2, all of them exceptional children. Married for 42 years, I grew up in Maine, live in California, and work in many places in education, linguistics, and program management. In my spare time, I rescue and tame feral cats and have the scars to prove it. A long-time ignorantly blissful atheist converted by a theophanic experience to Catholicism, I am now a joyful catechist. Oh, I also authored a dozen books, two under my pen name of Mahlou (Blest Atheist and A Believer-in-Waiting's First Encounters with God).
Recommended Reading List
Because I am blog inept, I don't quite know how to get a reading list to stay at the end of the page and not disappear from sight. Therefore, I entered it as my first post. I suppose that is not all that bad because readers started commenting about the books, even suggesting additional readings. So, you can participate with others in my reading list by clicking here.I do post additional books as I read them and find them to be meaningful to me, and therefore, hopefully, meaningful to you. One advantage of all the plane traveling I do is that I acquire reading time that I might not otherwise take.
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