Friday, May 21, 2010

Rich and Poor

Sometimes perception can play a really important role in our thought. I am sure that when two people look at the same thing, they might have different perceptive on that exact same thing. The story below tells us that being rich or being poor depends on how we perceive our live compare to other people's life. Having all the money in the world will not guarantee you to be happy always. Sometimes, all we need is our mind to think that we are rich. Rich in terms of having all the things valuable in live such as family, friends, love and many more. I think that being rich doesn't mean that you have all those material things, being rich for me is to always have happiness and love around me, sharing those moments with family and friends. That's is my version of being rich =)


One day, the father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the express purpose of showing him how poor people live.

They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family.
On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, "How was the trip?"
"It was great, Dad."

"Did you see how poor people live?" the father asked."Oh yeah," said the son.

"So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?" asked the father.
The son answered:

  • "I saw that we have one dog and they had 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, they have friends to protect them."
The boy's father was speechless.
Then his son added, "Thanks Dad for showing me how poor we are."

Isn't perspective a wonderful thing? Makes you wonder what would happen if we all gave thanks for everything we have, instead of worrying about what we don't have.

Appreciate every single thing you have!

(article source: here - image sources: here, flickr, tumblr)

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