A MEASURE OF THE HEART

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".

"Was it your father who paid for your school fees?"

"My father passed away when I was one year old, it was my

mother who paid for my school fees." he replied.

"Where did your mother work?"

"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.

" Have you ever helped your mother wash the clothes before?"

"Never, my mother always wanted me to study and read more

books. Besides, my mother can wash clothes faster than me.

The director said, "I have a request. When you go home 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 home, he asked his mother to let him clean her

hands. His mother felt strange, happy but with mixed feelings, she

showed her hands to her son.

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 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 mother's hands were the price that

the mother had to pay for his education, his school activities and

his future.

After cleaning 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, when he asked:

"Can you tell me what have you done and learned yesterday in

your house?"

The youth answered," I cleaned my mother's hands, and also

finished cleaning all the remaining clothes'

"I know now what appreciation is. Without my mother, I would not

be who I am today. By helping my mother, 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."

This young person worked very hard, and received the respect of

his subordinates. Every employee worked diligently and worked as

a team. The company's performance improved tremendously.

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. 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,

they may be successful for a while, but eventually they would not

feel a sense of achievement. They 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 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 under-

stand, 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 child learns how to appreciate the effort

and experience the difficulty and learns the ability to work with

others to get things done.