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How Poor Are We?

One day, a father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip

to the country with the firm purpose of showing his son how poor

people can be.

They spent a couple of nights on the farm of what would be

considered a very poor family. On their return from the trip, the

father asked his son, "How was the trip?"
"It was great, Dad." "Did you see how poor people can be?"
the father asked. "Oh yeah," said the son.

"So what did you learn from the trip?"
asked the father.

The son answered,
"I saw that we have one dog and they have four.

We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they

have a creek that has no end.

We have imported lanterns in our garden
and they have the stars at night."

"Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon.

We have a small piece of land to live on
and they have fields that go beyond our sight.

We have servants who serve us, but they serve others."

"We buy our food, but they grow theirs.

We have walls around our property to protect us
And they have friends to protect them."

With this, the boy's father was speechless.

Then his son added,
"Thanks, Dad, for showing me how poor we are."

Author unknown:

One day, when I was a freshman in high school,
I saw a kid from my class was walking home from school.
His name was Kyle.
It looked like he was carrying all of his books.
~I thought to myself,~
"Why would anyone bring home all his books on a Friday? He must really be a nerd"
I had quite a weekend planned (parties and a football game with my friends the following afternoon)
so I shrugged my shoulders and went on.

As I was walking, I saw a bunch of kids running toward him.
They ran at him, knocking all his books out
of his arms and tripping him so he landed in the dirt.
His glasses went flying, and I saw them land in the grass about ten feet from him.
He looked up and I saw this terrible sadness in his eyes.

My heart went out to him. So,
I jogged over to him as he crawled around looking for his glasses, and I saw a tear in his eye.
As I handed him his glasses, I said "Those guys are jerks.
They really should get lives." He looked at me and said,
"Hey thanks!" There was a big smile on his face.
It was one of those smiles that showed real gratitude.
I helped him pick up his books, and asked him where he lived.

As it turned out, he lived near me,
so I asked him why I had never seen him before.
He said he had gone to private school before now.

I would have never hung out with a private school kid before.
We talked all the way home, and I carried his books.
He turned out to be a pretty cool kid. I asked him if he wanted
to play football on Saturday with my friends and I He said yes.
We hung all weekend and the more I got to know Kyle,
the more I liked him, and my friends thought the same of him.
Monday morning came, and there was Kyle with the huge stack of books again.
I stopped him and said,
"Boy, you're gonna really build serious muscles with this pile of books everyday!"
He just laughed and handed me half the books.

Over the next four years,
Kyle and I became best friends. When we were seniors, and began to think about college.
Kyle decided on Georgetown, and I was going to Duke.
I knew that we would always be friends,
that the miles would never be a problem. He was going to be a doctor,
and I was going for business on a football scholarship.

Kyle was valedictorian of our class.
I teased him all the time about being a nerd.
He had to prepare a speech for graduation.
I was so glad it wasn't me having to get up there and speak.

Graduation day, I saw Kyle. He looked great.
He was one of those guys that really found himself during high school.
He filled out and actually looked good in glasses.
He had more dates than me and all the girls loved him.
Boy, sometimes I was jealous.
Today was one of those days. I could see that he was nervous about his speech.
So, I smacked him on the back and said,
"Hey, big guy, you'll be great!";
He looked at me with one of those looks (the really grateful one) and smiled.
"Thanks,"; he said.

As he started his speech, he cleared his throat, and began.
"Graduation is time to thank those who helped
you make it through those tough years.
Your parents, your teachers, your siblings, maybe a coach ...
but mostly your friends.
I am here to tell all of you that being a friend to someone is the best gift you can give them.
I am going to tell you a story..."

I just looked at my friend with disbelief
as he told the story of the first day we met...
He had planned to kill himself over the weekend.

He talked of how he had cleaned out his locker so his Mom wouldn't have to do
it later and was carrying his stuff home.
He looked hard at me and gave me a little smile.
"Thankfully, I was saved. My friend saved me from doing the unspeakable."
I heard the gasp go through the crowd as this handsome,
popular boy told us all about his weakest moment.
I saw his Mom and Dad looking at me and smiling that same grateful smile.
Not until that moment did I realize it's depth.

Never underestimate the power of your actions.
With one small gesture you can change a person's life. For better or for worse,
God puts us all in each other's lives to impact one another in some way.
Look for Good in others.

You now have two choices, you can:
1) Pass this on to your friends;
~OR~

2) Delete it and act like it didn't touch your heart.
As you can see, I took choice number 1.

"Friends are angels who lift us to our feet
when our wings have trouble
remembering how to fly."

Author unknown:

"Believe in yourself. You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience
in which you stop to look fear in the face.
You must do that which you think you cannot do."

*Eleanor Roosevelt {1884-1962 Political Activist & First Lady}

All the races and tribes in the world
are like the different colored flowers of one meadow.
~~All Are Beautiful~~
As children of the Creator, they must be respected

~The author is unknown ~

~Remember~
GROWING OLDER IS MANDATORY, GROWING UP IS
~~OPTIONAL~~