This is a powerful message in
our modern society.
We seemed 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 inter-view,
made the last decision. 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 clothes cleaner.” 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 to-day, 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 kid.
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 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 yester-day 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,
“Number 1, I know now what appreciation is. Without my mother, there would not
the successful me today. Number 2, by working together and helping my mother,
only I now realize how difficult and tough it is to get something done. Number
3, I have come to appreciate the importance and value of family relationship.”
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 what-ever he wanted, would develop
"entitlement mentality" and would always put him 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
people, 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 kid instead?
You can let your kid
live in a big house, eat a good meal, learn piano, watch a big screen TV. But
when you are cut-ting 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 gray, same as the mother of
that young person. The most important thing is your kid learns how to
appreciate the effort and experience the difficulty and learns the ability to
work with others to get things done.
Karim Boolani
Tabanis School of Accountancy, Karachi.
