My request is that please read this and get your children also read it.

One young man went to apply for a managerial position in a big company.

He passed the initial interview, and now would meet the 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”.

Who paid for your school fees…?
” Parents “, he replied.

“Where did they work……?”

“They 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 parents wash the clothes ?”

“Never, my parents always wanted me to study and read more books.
Besides, my parents can wash clothes faster than me.

The director said, “I have a request.

When you go home today, go and clean your parents hands, and then see me tomorrow morning.

The youth felt dejected.
When he went back home, he asked his parents to let him clean their hands.
His parents felt strange, happy but with mixed feelings,
They showed their hands to their son.

The youth cleaned their hands slowly.
His tear fell as he did that.
It was the first time he noticed that his parents hands were so wrinkled, and there were so many bruises in their hands.

Some bruises were so painful that they 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 hands were the price that the parents had to pay for his education, his school activities and his future.

After cleaning his parents hands, the youth quietly washed all the remaining clothes for them.

That night, parents 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 parents hand, and also finished cleaning all the remaining clothes’

“I now know what appreciation is. Without my parents, I would not be who I am today…

By helping my parents, 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.”

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.

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 grey, same as the parent 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.

This will also change someone’s attitude

Blessings..!!!

(Source: www)

There was once a businessman who was sitting by the beach in a small Brazilian village.

As he sat, he saw a Brazilian fisherman rowing a small boat towards the shore having caught quite few big fish.

The businessman was impressed and asked the fisherman, “How long does it take you to catch so many fish?”

The fisherman replied, “Oh, just a short while.”

“Then why don’t you stay longer at sea and catch even more?” The businessman was astonished.

“This is enough to feed my whole family,” the fisherman said.

The businessman then asked, “So, what do you do for the rest of the day?”

The fisherman replied, “Well, I usually wake up early in the morning, go out to sea and catch a few fish, then go back and play with my kids. In the afternoon, I take a nap with my wife, and evening comes, I join my buddies in the village for a drink — we play guitar, sing and dance throughout the night.”

The businessman offered a suggestion to the fisherman.

“I am a PhD in business management. I could help you to become a more successful person. From now on, you should spend more time at sea and try to catch as many fish as possible. When you have saved enough money, you could buy a bigger boat and catch even more fish. Soon you will be able to afford to buy more boats, set up your own company, your own production plant for canned food and distribution network. By then, you will have moved out of this village and to Sao Paulo, where you can set up HQ to manage your other branches.”

The fisherman continues, “And after that?”

The businessman laughs heartily, “After that, you can live like a king in your own house, and when the time is right, you can go public and float your shares in the Stock Exchange, and you will be rich.”

The fisherman asks, “And after that?”

The businessman says, “After that, you can finally retire, you can move to a house by the fishing village, wake up early in the morning, catch a few fish, then return home to play with kids, have a nice afternoon nap with your wife, and when evening comes, you can join your buddies for a drink, play the guitar, sing and dance throughout the night!”

The fisherman was puzzled, “Isn’t that what I am doing now?”

classic Brazilian story, probably also present in other cultures. Someone found the English version, but I could not identify the translator. 

(sourced from noted writer PAULO COELHO‘s Blog)