On a hot Friday morning, a wealthy father took his son on a trip in the suburban areas to show his son what it’s like to be poor. They spend few days on a farm with a family that could be considered a ”poor family.”
The father had to return to his job and came back to the city in a beautiful mansion where they lived. The father asked the son how he liked the trip at the farm. The son replied: “It was great, Dad!” The father asked: “Did you see how poor people can be?” the son replied: “Oh Yeah.”
“So what did you learn from the trip?” asked the father. The son answered:
“I saw that we have only one dog and they had four. We have a pool that extends to the middle of our green garden, but they have a creek that has no end. We have very expensive lanterns imported from Sweden in our garden, but they have the magnificent stars at night. Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole, limitless horizon.
We have fairly big land, but nothing compared to their fields that go beyond our sight. We have servants for each and everything, but they serve other people.
We buy or own food at raw expensive markets, but they grow theirs for free. We have big concrete walls for protection; they have families and friends to protect them.”
The boys father didn’t plan for this kind of answer. The son added: “It showed me how poor we are.”
Often we forget how many things we actually have, and focus on the things we don’t. From a perspective of scarcity, we will always lack things and want more, but from a perspective of abundance we already know that we have everything we need.
Be thankful for the things you have, instead of being jealous for the things you don’t. Know that you already have everything it takes to get more, but to get more you need to be settled with the treasure you already hold. No money and wealth in the world can get you the real treasure, as the boy said.
Sometimes it takes the perspective of an innocent child to remind us what’s important.
