Dad, How Much Do You Make An Hour?
Read this inspiring short story with a very POWERFUL message!
************************************
Pete came home from work last Monday, glad to be home, but as tired as usual. Just wanting to rest and read the paper for a minute or two before tackling the homefront and listening to the kids chatter.
Just as he opened the door, his seven-year-old son, Mark, a serious first child, came up to him and asked,“Dad, how much do you make an hour?”
Pete snapped, “Mark, leave me alone with that kind of stuff, now. I’m tired. Go play and we’ll talk about this later.”
Mark persisted, “Dad, just tell me, how much do you make an hour?”
Pete got his “out-or-patience tone” going and said, “Why do you need to know that? Just go play and let me rest and read the paper, Mark. You know I’m always tired when I get home from work.”
Mark kept going, “Please, dad, just tell me how much you make an hour.”
Pete snapped again, “Twenty dollars. Now can I read the paper?”
Mark lit up and asked, “Can I borrow ten dollars from you?”
Pete thundered, “Of course not. Now leave me alone for a while, son.”
After he read part of the paper and felt more rested and relaxed, Pete started feeling guilty. He found Mark in the backyard, just sitting on the swing and looking pensive. Pete sat in the other swing and said, “Sorry I snapped at you, son. Here is the ten dollars you wanted.”
Mark lit up again. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a very crumbled ten dollar bill, then said, “Now I have enough money. Dad, could I buy an hour of your time?“
****************************************
What a great story to demonstrate how easily we are distracted from what truly matters most!
What are you currently sacrificing in your own life that is given you more of what you don’t want?
Is it your Health?
Is it your Relationships with the people you love most?
We all fall victim to the illusion that we have all the time in the world to do what we want only to have life teach us that there is never going to be a perfect moment and that sacrificing time can come at an expensive cost.
That perfect moment is NOW, Live in the PRESENT and CHERISH what matters most!
As the Dalai Lama once said when asked the question “What surprises you most about humanity?”
He replied “MAN.
Because he sacrifices his HEALTH in order to make MONEY.
Then he sacrifices MONEY to recuperate his HEALTH.
And then he is so anxious about the FUTURE that he does not enjoy the PRESENT.
The result being that he does not live in the PRESENT or the FUTURE, he lives as if he is never going to die and then he dies having never really LIVED.”