Harvard
A lady in a faded gingham dress and her husband, dressed in a homespun
threadbare suit, stepped off the train in Boston, and walked timidly
without an appointment into the president of Harvard's outer office.
The secretary could tell in a moment that such backwoods country folks had
no business at Harvard and probably didn't even deserve to be in
Cambrigde. She frowned. "We want to see the president, "the man said
softly. "He'll be busy all day," the secretary snapped. "We'll wait," the
lady replied.
For hours, the secretary ignored them, hoping that the couple would
finally become discouraged and go away. They didn't. And the secretary
grew frustrated and finally decided to disturb the president, even though
it was a chore she always regretted to do.
"Maybe if they just see you for a few minutes, they'll leave, "she told
him. He sighed in exasperation and nodded. Someone of his importance
obviously didn't have the time to spend with them, but he detested gingham
and homespun suits cluttering his office.
The president, stern-faced with dignity, strutted toward the couple. The
lady told him, "We had a son that attended Harvard for one year. He loved
Harvard, and was very happy here. But about a year ago, he was
accidentally killed. And my husband and I would like to erect a memorial
to him somewhere on campus. "The president wasn't touched, he was shocked.
"Madam," he said gruffly, "we can't put up a statue for every person who
attended Harvard and died. If we did, this place would look like a
cemetery."
"Oh, no" the lady explained quickly, "we don't want to erect a statue. We
thought we would give a building to Harvard." The president rolled his
eyes. He glanced at the gingham dress and homespun suit, then exclaimed,
"A building!! Do you have any earthly idea how much a building costs? We
have over seven and a half million dollars in the physical plant at
Harvard!!"
For a moment the lady was silent. The president was pleased. He could get
rid of them now. The lady turned to her husband and said quietly, "Is that
all it costs to start a university? Why don't we just start our own?" Her
husband nodded. The president's face wilted in confusion and bewilderment.
Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stanford walked away, traveling to Palo Alto, CA where
they established the University that bears their name...a memorial to a
son that Harvard no longer cared about.
"You can easily judge the character of others by how they treat those who
can do nothing for them or to them."
- Malcolm Forbes
BE THANKFUL
Be thankful that you don't already have everything you desire.
If you did, what would there be to look forward to?
Be thankful when you don't know something,
for it gives you the opportunity to learn.
Be thankful for the difficult times.
During those times you grow.
Be thankful for your limitations,
because they give you opportunities for improvement.
Be thankful for each new challenge,
because it will build your strength and character.
Be thankful for your mistakes.
They will teach you valuable lessons.
Be thankful when you're tired and weary,
because it means you've made a difference.
It's easy to be thankful for the good things.
A life of rich fulfillment comes to those who
are also thankful for the setbacks.
Gratitude can turn a negative into a positive.
Find a way to be thankful for your troubles,
and they can become your blessings.
- Unknown
THE UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE
Two sailors ran into each other in a pub. Over a few beers,
one of the men told the other about his last voyage:
"After a month at sea," he said, "we discovered our masts
had been eaten through by termites! Almost nothing left of
them."
"That's terrible," said the second sailor.
"That's what I thought at first too," the first sailor said,
"but it turned out to be good luck. As soon as we took the
sails down to fix the masts, we were hit by a squall so
suddenly and so hard, it would surely have blown us over if
our sails were up at the time."
"How lucky!"
"That's exactly what I thought at the time, too. But because
our sails were down, we couldn't steer ourselves, and because
of the wind, we were blown onto a reef. The hole in the hull
was too big to fix. We were stranded."
"That is bad luck indeed."
"That's what I thought, too, when it first happened. But we
all made it to the beach alive and had plenty to eat. But now
here's the real kicker: While we were on the island whining
about our terrible fate, we discovered a buried treasure!"
As this story illustrates, you don't know if an event is "good"
or "bad" except maybe in retrospect, and even then you don't
really know because life keeps going. The story's not over yet.
Just because something hasn't turned out to be an advantage yet
doesn't mean it is not ever going to.
Therefore, you can simply assume whatever happens is "good."
I know that sounds awfully airy-fairy, but it's very practical.
If you think an event is good, it's easy to maintain a positive
attitude. And your attitude affects your health, it affects
the way people treat you and how you treat others, and it affects
your energy level. And those can help pave the way for things
to turn out well. A good attitude is a good thing. And a bad
attitude does you no good at all.
So get in the habit of saying "That's good!" Since you don't
know for sure whether something will eventually work to your
advantage or not, you might as well assume it will. It is
counterproductive to assume otherwise. Think about it.
If someone ahead of you in line at a store is slowing everything
down, say to yourself, "That's good!" They may have saved you
from getting into an accident when you get back in your car.
Or maybe, because you slowed down, you might meet a friend you
would have missed. You never know.
The truth is, life is uncertain. And even that can work to
your advantage.
Adam Khan
From his book "Self-Help Stuff That Works"
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