Second thoughts .. An excellent Story

Second thoughts .. An excellent Story

A young man, a student in one of the universities, was one day taking awalkwith a professor, who was commonly called the student's friend for hiskindness to those who waited on his instructions.


As they went along,they saw lying in the path a pair of old shoes, which were supposed to belong toa poor man who was working in a field close by, and who had nearly finished his day's work…


The student turned to the professor, saying: "Let us play the man atrick: we will hide his shoes, and hide ourselves behind those bushes, andwait to see his perplexity when he cannot find them…"

“My young friend," answered the professor, "we should never amuse ourselves at the expense of the poor… But you are rich, and may give yourself amuch greater pleasure by means of this poor man. Put a coin in each shoe, and then we will hide ourselves and watch how this affects him."

The student did so and they both placed themselves behind the bushes close by. The poor man soon finished his work, and came across the field to the path where he had left his coat and shoes…

While putting on his coat he slipped his foot into one of his shoes, but feeling something hard, he stooped down to feel what it was, and found the coin. Astonishment and wonder were seen upon his countenance. He gazed upon the coin, turned it around, and looked at it again and again.

He then looked around him on all sides, but no person was to be seen. He now put the money into his pocket, and proceeded to put on the other shoe;but his surprise was doubled on finding the other coin…


His feelings overcame him… he fell upon his knees, looked up to heaven and uttered aloud afervent thanksgiving in which he spoke of his wife, sick and helpless, and his children without bread, whom this timely bounty, from some unknown hand, would save from perishing…


The student stood there deeply affected, and his eyes filled with tears. "Now," said the professor, are you not much better pleased than if youhad played your intended trick?"

The student stood there deeply affected, and his eyes filled with tears. "Now," said the professor, are you not much better pleased than if youhad played your intended trick?"

The youth replied, "You have taught me a lesson which I will neverforget… I feel now the truth of these words, which I never understood before: "It's more blessed to give than to receive."


If you want happiness….For an hour--- take a nap For a day--- go fishingFor a month----get marriedFor a year---inherit a fortune For many years---love someone For a lifetime---help someone…

"Do n't wait to strike till the iron is hot. Make it hot by striking"
William B Sprague

University of Standford ... A fascinating story

University Of Stanford - A fascinating story

Once upon a time, a lady in a faded gingham dress and her husband,dressed in a homespun threadbare suit, stepped off the train in Boston, and walked timidly without an appointment into the president of Harvard’s outer office.

The secretary could tell in a moment that such backwoods, country hicks had no business at Harvard and probably didn’t even deserve to be in Cambridge.

She frowned. “We want to see the president,” the man said softly. “He’ll be busy all day,” the secretary snapped. “We’ll wait,” the lady replied. For hours, the secretary ignored them, hoping that the couple would finally become discouraged and go away.

They didn’t. And the secretary grew frustrated and finally decided to disturb the president, even though it was a chore she always regretted to do. “Maybe if they just see you for a few minutes, they’ll leave,” she told him.

And he sighed in exasperation and nodded. Someone of his importance obviously didn’t have the time to spend with them, but he detested gingham dresses and homespun suits cluttering up his outer office. The president, stern-faced with dignity, strutted toward the couple.

The lady told him, “We had a son that attended Harvard for one year. He loved Harvard. He was happy here. But about a year ago, he was accidentally killed. And my husband and I would like to erect a memorial to him, somewhere on campus.”

The president wasn’t touched, he was shocked. “Madam,” he said gruffly. “We can’t put up a statue for every person who attended Harvard and died. If we did, this place would look like a cemetery”. “Oh, no,” the lady explained quickly. “We don’t want to erect a statue. We thought we would like to give a building to Harvard.”

The president rolled his eyes. He glanced at the gingham dress and homespun suit, then exclaimed, “A building! Do you have any earthly idea how much a building costs? We have over seven and a half million dollars in the physical plant at Harvard.” For a moment the lady was silent.

The president was pleased. He could get rid of them now. And the lady turned to her husband and said quietly, “Is that all it costs to start a University? Why don’t we just start our own?” Her husband nodded.

The president’s face wilted in confusion and bewilderment. And Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stanford walked away, traveling to Palo Alto, California where they established the University that bears their name, a memorial to a son that Harvard no longer cared about.

Moral Of The Story: “You can easily judge the character of others by how they treat those who can do nothing for them or to them.” Malcolm Forbes.

"Often the difference between a successful man failure is not one's better abilites and ideas but the courage that one has to bet on his ideas to take a calculated risk and to act"

Maxwell Maltz