Can you hear the music ?? |
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First Impression Can Be Wrong
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 outer office of the President of
Harvard University.
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. 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.
Sometimes first impressions are wrong. Someone might look like a
chunk of gold, and quickly rust. Or we might turn away someone with
drive, loyalty, ambition, determination, etc.
We hear that what goes around, comes around. Just in case that
might actually be true and in case you have ever felt under
appreciated, then you might consider taking advantage of the next
opportunity to look a little deeper for the goodness in others.
Author : Unknown
Forwarded by : Linna
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