iDRY Vacuum Kilns

Sponsors:

What it means to be poor.

Started by Tillaway, December 10, 2002, 10:27:13 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Tillaway

What It Means To Be Poor...
One day a father of a very wealthy family took his son
on a trip to the country with the firm purpose of showing
his son how poor people can be.

They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of
what would be considered a very poor family.

On their return from their trip, the father asked his
son, "How was the trip?"

"It was great, Dad."

"Did you see how poor people can be?" the father
asked.

"Oh Yeah" said the son.

"So what did you learn from the trip?" asked the
father.

The son answered, "I saw that we have one dog and they
had four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our
garden and they have a creek that has no end. We have
imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at
night. Our patio reaches to the front yard and they
have the whole horizon.

We have a small piece of land to live on and they have
fields that go beyond our sight. We have servants who
serve us, but they serve others. We buy our food, but they
grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect
us, they have friends to protect them."

With this the boy's father was speechless.

Then his son added, "Thanks dad for showing me how
poor we are."

Too many times we forget what we have and concentrate
on what we don't have.
What is one person's worthless object is another's
prize possession. It is all based on one's
perspective.

Makes you wonder what would happen if we all gave
thanks for all the bounty we have, instead of worrying
about wanting more. Take joy in all you have,
especially your friends.

Making Tillamook Bay safe for bait; one salmon at a time.

Bibbyman

My Uncle Elmer told a story with a similar point.

Said country kids came in to stay awhile with their city cousins.  When it came time to leave, they didn't want to go.  :'(  When asked why, they said; "Because you guys get such great food like hotdogs, bologna, sliced white bread, soup from a can, candy bars, and potato chips in a bag."  

Asked, "Well, what do you get to eat?"  "Ah...All we get are things like ham, roast beef, fried chicken, vegetables from the garden, jellies and pies made from wild blackberries, and biscuits and cornbread that Mom bakes each day."  ::)
Wood-Mizer LT40HDE25 Super 25hp 3ph with Command Control and Accuset.
Sawing since '94

whitepe

Well stated Bibbyman and Tillaway,

I used to take a lot of things for granted but after
being in India last summer I take a lot less for granted.
When is the last time that any of us went without
a meal or slept on the sidewalk all night and everynight?

Every day since I got back from India, I think about
the thousands of poor people I saw roaming the streets.
People with a bad leg the size of a broom handle,
people digging ditches on their hands and knees with
just a loin cloth on in the 115 F daytime heat. People
who would lean with their faces pressed against the
windshield of your car begging for money and the young
beggar girls hanging on my arms at the airport and
marketplace hoping for a handout.  
I think about the thousands of people living (did I say living?)
in corrugated metal lean-to's pressed up against the
fences just off of the airport runways.

When you go to bed tonight,  close your eyes and thank
the almighty that you have a roof over your head, a warm
bed to sleep in and a full stomach.

blue by day, orange by night and green in between

Lenny

 Taking thangs for granted
 About 8 years ago I spent time in southern Mexico working for A foundery.
 I had one fellow that was A great worker. Mechanic-welder type.The asked me for all the overtime he could get. I got him 12 hr days during the week and 8 hrs on sat and sundays. On thursday the second week He told me he was too tired and sore to work the overtime.He said he really needed the money so he could buy his parrents a refrigerator, said they had never had one.
 I asked him why the work was making him sore. He said it`s not the work. On overtime he had to run to work because the company busses wern`t running at the time.
 When asked how far he ran each morning and night he pionted toward the volcano off in the distance. about 20 miles by road to the family house by. about 12 miles by mountain path.
 From then on I picked him up and took him home at night.
The house(shanty) made from scrap wood,metal.tarps ect.About 8 people lived here.
 Had many good home cooked meals there,and never once did I see anyone unhappy at this place.
I decided the frig in the office area needed to be replaced. the old one (2 yrs old) was delivered to his house
 He then decided to save his money to buy A family car, They have never had one of those either.



 people don`t seem to reaize how good we have it.
                            Lenny

dan-l-b

Meggadittos Lenny,  A few years ago I had business in guadaloppe mexico.  Drove from Texas down.  Two lane highways poorly maintained, made me think how we take for granted our superhighways, all mowed and landscaped.  In the city, mother and kids begging at street corners, an infrastructure crumbling, men using picks and shovels to do major road repairs....it was sobering, to say the least.  I asked my mexican associate why the residences had eight foot stone walls and iron  fences and gates.  I thought it was for the quaint courtyard it created.  He said it did that, but mainly it was to keep away the beggers!  
I felt sorry for myself because I had no shoes, until I met a person who had no feet.
God Bless America

DanG

Amen!

I went on a 10 day church-building mission to Haiti, in 1980. The people in the Les Cayes area, where we were working were poor, but seemed to manage ok. The real shocker came on our tour of Port au Prince, as we were returning. It was considered too dangerous for us to tour the ghettos, but we were taken to the 2nd floor of a church, where we could view the squalor. The people were huddled in tiny lean-to's, crammed into a huge area just as tightly as they could be. The "nicest" of these dwellings had a single sheet of tin to shelter an entire family. Most had whatever they could scrounge, and many had no shelter at all.
We are blessed, indeed!
Hats off to those, such as Frank's son, who devote their lives to trying to make a difference for these people.
"I don't feel like an old man.  I feel like a young man who has something wrong with him."  Dick Cavett
"Beat not thy sword into a plowshare, rather beat the sword of thine enemy into a plowshare."

Thank You Sponsors!