Appreciation

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 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, 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 eyes, 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."

The 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 him self 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.


You would have forwarded many mails to many and many of them would have back
mailed you too...but try and forward this story to as many as
possible...this may change somebody for the better.


YOUR SMILE IS YOUR BEST FRIEND._._._ .

MAKE IT SOME ONE ELSE'S TOO !
BE HAPPY, IT'S ONE WAY OF BEING WISE,


Have a nice day my friend.

Ragu.