Friday, October 12, 2007

Knowing What Matters Most

(Adapted from FL Sam's post; Original Author: Unknown)


The Long Wait
A man came home from work late again, tired and irritated, to find his 5 years old son waiting for him at the door.




"Daddy, may I ask you a question?" "Yeah, sure, what is it?" replied the man. "Daddy, how much do you make an hour?" "That's none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?" the man said angrily. "I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?" pleaded the little boy. "If you must know, I make $20 an hour." "Oh," the little boy replied, with his head down, looking up, he said, "Dad, may I please borrow $10?"

Angry Reaction
The father was furious, "If the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why you are being so selfish. I work hard everyday and don't have time for this childish behavior."

The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door.

The man sat down and started to get even angrier about the little boy's questions. How dare he ask such questions only to get some money?

React Differently On Second Thought
After about an hour or so, the man had calmed down, and started to think: Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that $10 and he really didn't ask for money very often.

The man went to the door of the little boy's room and opened the door.

"Are you asleep, son?" He asked. "No daddy, I'm awake," replied the boy. "I've been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier" said the man. "It's been a long day and I took out my aggravation on you. Here's the $10 you asked for."

The little boy sat straight up, smiling. "Oh, thank you daddy!" He yelled. Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some crumpled up bills.

Angry Again
The man seeing that the boy already had money, started to get angry again. The little boy slowly counted out his money, and then looked up at his father.

"Why do you want more money if you already have some?" the father grumbled. "Because I didn't have enough, but now I do," the little boy replied.

"Daddy, I have $20 now. Can I buy an hour of your time? Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you."

The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little son, and he begged for his forgiveness.

Understand The Message From This Story
This is just a reminder to all of us who are working so hard in life. We should not let time slip through our fingers without having spent sometime with those who really matter to us, those close to our hearts. Do remember to share that $20 worth of your time with someone you love.

If we die tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily replace us in a matter of days. But the family and friends we leave behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives.

Photo 1 by free2bjcphotos taken from this source
Photo 2 by Unhindered by Talent taken from this source
Photo 3 by absolutwade taken from this source

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19 comments:

mr fong said...

Sam, this is so sweet..I read about it before, and this puts things in perspective.

Sometimes we work for money, but we do not enjoy spending the money.Then what do we earn it for?

Thank you for the post :)

It is important that we earn the money, and spend it with who we love.Haha..

Btw, thanks for your quote at my site! Indeed our system is flawed, just look at forums and all the complaints are so rife.Sigh.

Trix said...

Hello Sam, I actually have tears in my eyes as I think of this poor son, trying to buy some time from his father...how many of us experienced this same pain, perhaps having fathers that were absent or working or had little time for family matters! Its tragic that we can actually make time for all the people who really matter, but so many times, we simply choose not to.
I also agree totally with this part of your post:
'If we die tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily replace us in a matter of days. But the family and friends we leave behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives.'
Its so true, the company that we put above our friends and family probably wont even vare a minute when we die...yet the ones we deprived will miss us so much. A wonderful post which reminds me to be happy and grateful for every second of life that I have...and to put my family first!
Thanks once again,Sam...for a wonderful post !!

mr fong said...

Yeah, i agree with the last part of Your post as Jesse rightly pointed out :)

Jennifer Jones said...

I love this story Sam... it always reminds me of what is really important!

Thanks for relating this and helping us to spend our time with our loved ones!

Warmest wishes,

Jen

x said...

Many of us have been the self immersed parent, most of us have been that needy child wanting love from a parent, all of us need to give and receive love and use our time well. Thanks for the good word spoken at the right time.

FL Sam said...

Sam: You make post come to life with pictures and nice presentation.

I like your creativity. :)

surjit singh said...

a great message in your last paragraph:
...'If we die tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily replace us in a matter of days. But the family and friends we leave behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives...'
A very good post.
Thanks Sam, for giving us a jolt from our slumbers.
God bless.

Sam Chan said...

Hi Winston,

Thanks for your comments. Indeed, we ought to know how to earn good money and then spend it wisely, not just for ourselves but with our love one. However, we mustn't just spend all the time working or earning money and forgot to spend time with our love one.

Blessings to you, Winston

Sam Chan said...

Hi Jesse,

Thank you for sharing your valuable thoughts and feelings.

Many people work so hard to earn an income to support their family because many really loves their family. However, it is foolish to spend all the time with the company and neglected our family, thinking that money can substitute the time spend with our family members.

Blessings to you, Jesse

Sam Chan said...

Hi Jennifer,

I am glad you love this story and find it useful to serve as a reminder that we also need to spend time with our loved ones!

Blessings and Joy to you and yours

Sam Chan said...

Hi x,
Thanks for your insightful views. Let's remember to have a balance life.

Best Wishes

Sam Chan said...

Hi Sam,

Thank you for the wonderful post that had inspired me to post it here.

Blessings to you my friend.

Sam Chan said...

Hi Surjit,

I am glad you liked this post and the message. Let's continue to be a good parent, spouse, children and friend - knowing how to spend our time wisely.

God bless

WaterLearner said...

Hi Sam,

I would say exactly the same thing: That one should put the priorities in life correctly. But to be honest, I have fallen into the same trap many times before.

Knowing the priorities is one thing. But able to be AWARE of the priorities in the midst of our everyday life is really another thing. Our limited conscious sometimes does not allow us to even see the full picture to know the correct next step to take according to our priorities.

Hence, constant reminders through reading good material and also spiritual sharing and mutual encouragement would serve as a very good way to remind one another.

Thanks for this good post! It serves as a good anchor for my weekend's contemplations.

Blessings to you, Sam!

AC Associates said...

Hi Sam,
Loved this post...
I have a quote that I love which is displayed on one of my blogs...

"Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things"

How true it is...people get so caught up in work and in life, that we forget what is truly important.
Andrea

Sam Chan said...

Hi Karen,

Thanks for your insightful views.

You are right! Indeed, we all need constant reminder to have our priorities right. Knowing and really aware of it is a different story all together!

Let's encourage one another to live a family focused and balanced life.

Blessings and Love to you, Karen.

Sam Chan said...

Hi Andrea,

Thanks for sharing the quote. That is indeed a nice one - "Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things"

May we have the wisdom to know what truly important.

Blessings to you, Andrea.

Oswegan said...

Even though I saw where the story was going from the start, it still hurt to read it.

I was just posting about spiritual growth and elimination of the distractions in life and not falling victim to a busy life.

I think what I should have been doing was sitting on the floor playing blocks with my five year old son.

Thanks for the reminder - this subject always brings a sick feeling to my stomach because they grow up so fast - and all they ever really wanted was your time and your compassion.

~Oswegan
http://oswegan.blogspot.com

Sam Chan said...

Hi Oswegan,

Thanks for sharing your valuable thoughts and comments. Indeed, spending time with our family members cannot be postponed. It is different at different time. The moment can never be the same anymore when we do it later.

My Best Wishes