Recently, a good friend of mine told me one of his high school friend passed away in a car accident. He was on his way to pick his son up from soccer practice. While driving on the highway, his car slid on black ice and drove right into on-coming traffic and was killed instantly.
It really sadden me to hear this and reminded me about this short story. I knew I had to find this story to share with you, so here it is.
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A man came home from work late, tired and irritated , to find his 5 year old son waiting for him at the door.
Son: ‘Daddy, may I ask you a question?’
Dad: ‘Yeah sure, what is it?’
Son: ‘Daddy, how much do you make an hour?’
Dad: ‘That’s none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?’ the man said angrily.
Son: ‘I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?’
Dad: ‘If you must know, I make $50 an hour.’
Son: ‘Oh,’ the little boy replied with his head down.
Son: ‘May I please borrow $25?’
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 don’t work hard everyday for such childish frivolities.’
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?
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 $25 and he really didn’t ask for money very often. The man went to 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 your earlier’ said the man. ‘It’s been a long day and I took out my aggravation on you. Here’s the $25 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.
The man saw that the boy already had money and started to get angry again. The little boy slowly counted 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 $50 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 ask for his forgiveness.
Remember to spend some quality time with those who really matters to us and always remember, work will always be there...
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