Wednesday, October 29, 2008

RM100 an hour

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?' replied the man.
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 RM100 an hour.'
SON: 'Oh,' the little boy replied, with his head down.
SON: 'Daddy, may I please borrow RM50?'

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 for such 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? 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 Rs.50 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 RM50 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, 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 RM100 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.

It's just a short reminder to all of you working so hard in life. We should not let time slip through our fingers without having spent some time with those who really matter to us, those close to our hearts.

Do remember to share that RM100 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 & friends we leave behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives. And come to think of it, we pour ourselves more into work than to our family.

p/s Just another story for our own reflection..to make sure we give enough time for the right things & the right person...We may think we still have a lifetime to do all the things step by step..or like most people would like to say..'just go with the flow'..but the reality is, we never know if tomorrow would come for us or not..so make the most of your time everyday...do whatever you need to do...say whatever it is you need to say...[makes me miss home so much more...sigh]

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am totally agree with the moral of the story. Being a responsible worker is all that we need to be. Do our job and get paid.

Anonymous said...

iya...jgn lebih2 mo jd workaholic ka tu maksud dia? hehe

Anonymous said...

Eeee... sedihnya.. mmg kita nda cukup masa ba dlm hidup kita,jd mesti pandai2 spend the time kan..

Anonymous said...

yup kris and nadia...fikir2 kan mmg kita selalu bg masa kita lebih kepada org yg nda sepatutnya..tp life kn..mmg mcmtu la kali..

mau bertaubat la ni sebelum terlambat..hehe mo balik sabah! hehe