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| Don't judge a book by its cover..
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Category: Food for thought |
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Posted by:
Kewtie
Date:
12/14/2007 4:27:00 PM
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| About Kewtie: |
| Gender: |
Female |
| Age: |
23 |
| Country: |
South Africa |
| City: |
Durban |
| Description: |
I'm a fitness freak, I love dancing... |
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[ view profile ] |
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A lady in a faded cotton dress and her husband, dressed in a flimsy threadbare suit, stepped off the train in Boston, and walked timidly into the waiting room of the Harvard University President's office without having made an appointment.
The secretary could tell immediately that such country hicks had no business at Harvard and probably didn't even deserve to be in Cambridge. She frowned.
"We want to see the President," the man said softly. "He'll be busy all day," the secretary retorted.
"That's OK, we'll wait," the lady replied.
For hours, the secretary ignored them, hoping that the couple would eventually become disheartened and leave. They didn't and the secretary grew frustrated and finally decided to disturb the President, even though it was a chore she always regretted. "Maybe if they see you for just a few minutes, they'll leave," she told him. He sighed with irritation and nodded. Someone of his importance obviously didn't have the time to spend with them, but he detested cotton dresses and threadbare suits in his waiting room.
The President, stern-faced with dignity, strutted toward the couple.
The lady told him, "We had a son who attended Harvard for a year. He loved Harvard. He was happy here. But about a year ago, he was killed by accident. And my husband and I would like to erect a memorial to him, somewhere on the campus."
The President wasn't touched, he was shocked. "Madam," he said gruffly. "We can't put up a statue for every person who attended Harvard and died. If we did, this place would look like a cemetery".
"Oh, no," the lady explained quickly. "We don't want to erect a statue. We thought we would like to give a building to Harvard."
The president rolled his eyes. He glanced at the gingham dress and homespun suit, then exclaimed, "A building! Do you have any idea how much a building costs? We have over seven and a half million dollars in the physical plant at Harvard."
For a moment the lady was silent. The president was pleased. He could get rid of them now. And the lady turned to her husband and said quietly, "If that's all it costs to start a University, why don't we just start our own?" Her husband nodded. The President's face was a picture of confusion and bewilderment.
And Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stanford walked away, traveling to Palo Alto, California where they established the university that bears their name, a memorial to a son that Harvard no longer cared about.
You can easily judge the character of others by how they treat those who can do nothing for them or to them.
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