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Friday, June 19, 2009

An hour of our time-for the parents

Got this forwarded mail like the 3rd time but it touches my heart every time and would like to share. Besides the obvious message from the article it also tells us not to judge and comment on someone too quickly. Always ask the reason and be patient!


"
A woman came home from work late, tired and irritated, to find her 5-year
old son waiting for her at the door.

SON: 'Mummy, may I ask you a question?'

MUM: 'Yeah sure, what it is?' replied the woman.

SON: 'Mummy, how much do you make an hour?'

MUM: 'That's none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?' the
woman said angrily.
SON: 'I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?'

MUM: 'If you must know, I make R 50 an hour.'

SON: 'Oh,' the little boy replied, with his head down.

SON: 'Mummy, may I please borrow R25?'

The mother was furious, 'If the only reason you asked that is so you can
borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you
march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why you
are being so selfish. I don't work hard everyday for such childish
frivolities.'

The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door..

The woman sat down and started to get even angrier about the little boy's
questions. How dare he ask such questions only to get some money?

After about an hour or so, the woman had calmed down , and started to
think:

Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that R25.00 and she
really didn't ask for money very often.The woman went to the door of the
little boy's room and opened the door.

'Are you asleep, son?' She asked.

'No Mummy, I'm awake,' replied the boy.

'I've been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier' said the woman.
'It's been a long day and I took out my aggravation on you. Here's the R25
you asked for.'

The little boy sat straight up, smiling. 'Oh, thank you Mummy!' he yelled.
Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some crumpled up bills.

The woman saw that the boy already had money, started to get angry again.

The little boy slowly counted out his money, and then looked up at his
mother.

'Why do you want more money if you already have some?' the mother
grumbled.

'Because I didn't have enough, but now I do,' the little boy replied.

'Mummy, I have R50 now. Can I buy an hour of your time? Please come home
early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you.'

The mother was crushed. She put his arms around her little son, and she
begged for his forgiveness.

It's just a short reminder to all of you working so hard in life. We
should not let time slip through our fingers without having spent some
time with those who really matter to us, those close to our hearts. Do
remember to share that R50 worth of your time with someone you love.

If we die tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily
replace us in a matter of hours. But the family & friends we leave behind
will feel the loss for the rest of their lives."

2 comments:

ilene said...

Anthony, such is life that when kids were small, parents had to work to get that income to maintain the family. Then when the kids are all grown up, that's when the parents are able to spend more time with time coz they have more or less earned sufficient to sustain or have attained the retirement age. But sadly that's the time when the kids no longer need the parents' pampering! Ahhh...life!

Benjamin Beck said...

Nice post. I should stop accepting freelances.