POOR PEOPLE ?

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, especially your friends!

Pass this on to friends and acquaintances and help them refresh their perspective and appreciation.

'Life is too short and friends are too few'.
By: Author Tom Baker

Great post lc. If only more people had the same perspective.

I must admit, I'm truly a rich man.....and it has nothing to do with my financial statement, which would give a different impression.

Nice parable Littlecub. I enjoyed reading it.

So true. Some of the happiest people I have ever met lived in truly wretched conditions. I recently got back from my second missions trip to the bush of Haiti, and couldn't believe how joyful people are there. Despite living in a 10' x 10' mud hut (with children), no running water, no cars, no doctors, no ipods ( or electricity ), no grocery stores ( If you wont to eat you ether grow it or kill it ). On top off all this they live in a country where a horribly corrupt government really stifles any true prosperity. And with all this I have never seen such a close knit community and friendship. The community would still go out and play soccer, and give there meals to someone less in need, even though it means no dinner for them (just try to refuse there hospitality and see what happens). I couldn't help but feel dirty when I got home from all the things I consider I "need". There are so many things that are so easy to let you get cot up in what you have or don't have ( like the Cessna 180 I don't have ). Don't get me wrong there is nothing wrong with prosperity. But all the things that you cherish aside from family and friends really don't mean a thing, and at the end of the day wont make you truly happy.

P.S. I love MAF. And a special thanks to the pilots in Haiti that make trips like this a reality. http://www.maf.org/

Nice story,

Contains a moral truth which most of us should absorb and appreciate.

However the dad didn't take his son to see the truely poor in our nation. Rather the story depicts an idyllic setting among a peaceful rural enviornment of those with modest means....( an environment among which many of us spent our childhood)..... which represents only a small minority of America's poor.

Show him the millions who live jammed up in the inner city ghetto or deep rural poverty: in shacks and rusted out trailers. Then his son would have understood how truely rich his family was.

Bob

Great Thread! People have asked me why I seem so happy with all the BS in my life. It's simple, I have a great life! Doesn't matter if I loose everything in this Bankruptcy. The important things, no one can take away from me. I don't own an alarm clock. I travel more than most. I've never gone hungry no matter how broke I've been. I have steaks in the fridge and God, friends and family love me. What else do I need?

My Doctor had a sign in his office. It said " I've been rich and I've been poor, Rich is Better!". I disagree. I have made a lot of money at times in my life, but to do it I worked 12+ hrs a day/every day then went home and did bookwork until I went to bed. When I look back on my life, most of the happiest times, I didn't have a dime in my pocket. I think we all on this site have a lot to be thankful for.

A number of years ago I faced the prospect of my retirement from active employment and began to search for an "idea" that would take me very far from my accustomed life and into something I could not define at the time. I had no illusions about going "Zen" or breaking into some sort of altered mindset or worldview. I just wanted things to slow down. Then I discovered this article. It moved me. Before you read it though, let me say that my iteration of this quest turned out different than it did for Art Wolfe. For one thing, I have a wife. I will not give up my marriage to extend my personal quest for fulfillment. There are many reasons for that, none of which is germane to this thread. Please know that I did not find true happiness at the end of this particular rainbow. I did however learn a fundamental principle that professor Wolfe and his "farmer" make clear. Though I'm grateful for this understanding I still do battle with my seemingly bottomless desire for "The Material". Bonanzas haunt my list of things to want. So I've not totally absorbed the lesson. I now strive to bend my wants to serve my needs. Pay attention to Coyote Ugly's soaring adventure in the T-craft. Here's the link. Read it, but know your limits:

http://www.buyboatbb.com/wantless.html

I wanted to say something really inspiring, but, you know after thinking about it a lot lately, it really boils down to, the more you have, the more you have to worry about. How much do you want to worry???

Me, I don't have a worry in the world.. ha ha... Not a conscious decision, just divorces and the stock market... ha ha

Good comments and here is mine. When do you know you have enough?
The answer lies in how you measure the quality of your life. Its not in the amount of income you make for a living, but in the amount of living you make for your life.

dirtstrip wrote:Good comments and here is mine. When do you know you have enough?
The answer lies in how you measure the quality of your life. Its not in the amount of income you make for a living, but in the amount of living you make for your life.

This reminds me of something I heard the other day.

"Two buddies were listening to a billionaire speak about his next venture. One asked the other, 'how does it feel to know he makes more money in a day than you make all year?' The other buddy said, 'I have something he will never have...enough.'"

http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2011-05-04/story/100-year-old-jacksonville-man-says-do-what-you-love-and-adventure-will#ixzz1Ld1blfrq

Seems to me that Wesley was a rich man.

I have been lower middle class and now upper middle class. I like UMC. When I think about rich businessmen, I think of the jobs, insurance, and wealth creation that otherwise wouldn't exist. I think of people who have better lives because another capitalist American went after his dream.

God, family, and health are the foundation of happyness.

A poor man never gave me a job!!

Good day

I was waiting to see how many posts it took until it turned political. Hehhehhehheh I was once asked if my behavior caused me to hang around with a lower class of people. At the time, I don't suppose I could have found any.

Y'all have a nice evening now.