**Story of Appreciation***

One young academically excellent person went to apply for a managerial

position in a big company.

He passed the first interview, the director did the last interview, made

the last decision.

The director discovered from the CV that the youth's academic

achievements were excellent all the way, from the secondary school until the

postgraduate research, never had a year when he did not score.

The director asked, "Did you obtain any scholarships in school?" the

youth answered "none".

The director asked, " Was it your father who paid for your school fees?"

The youth answered, "My father passed away when I was one year old, it was

my mother who paid for my school fees.

The director asked, " Where did your mother work?" The youth answered, "My

mother worked as clothes cleaner. The director requested the youth to show

his hands. The youth showed a pair of hands that were s mooth and perfect.

The director asked, " Have you ever helped your mother wash the clothes

before?" The youth answered, "Never, my mother always wanted me to study and

read more books. Furthermore, my mother can wash clothes faster than me.

The director said, "I have a request. When you go back today, go and

clean your mother's hands, and then see me tomorrow morning.*

The youth felt that his chance of landing the job was high. When he went

back, he happily requested his mother to let him clean her hands. His mother

felt strange, happy but with mixed feelings, she showed her hands to the

kid.

The youth cleaned his mother's hands slowly. His tear fell as he did that.It

was the first time he noticed that his mother's hands were so wrinkled, and

there were so many bruises in her hands. Some bruises were so painful that

his mother shivered when they were cleaned with water.

This was the first time the youth realized that it was this pair of hands

t hat washed the clothes everyday to enable him to pay the school fee. The

bruises in the mother's hands were the price that the mother had to pay for

his graduation, academic excellence and his future.

After finishing the cleaning of his mother hands, the youth quietly washed

all the remaining clothes for his mother.

That night, mother and son talked for a very long time.

Next morning, the youth went to the director's office.

The Director noticed the tears in the youth's eyes, asked: " Can you tell

me what have you done and learned yesterday in your house?"

The youth answered, " I cleaned my mother's hand, and also finished

cleaning all the remaining clothes'

The Director asked, " please tell me your feelings."

The youth said, Number 1, I know now what is appreciation. Without my

mother, there would not the successful me today. Number 2, by working

together and helping my mother, only I now realize how difficult and tough

it is to get so mething done. Number 3, I have come to appreciate the

importance and value of family relationship.

The director said, " This is what I am looking for to be my manager.

I want to recruit a person who can appreciate the help of others, a person

who knows the sufferings of others to get things done, and a person who

would not put money as his only goal in life. You are hired.

Later on, this young person worked very hard, and received the respect of

his subordinates. Every employee worked diligently and as a team. The

company's performance improved tremendously.

A child, who has been protected and habitually given whatever he wanted,

would develop "entitlement mentality" and would always put himself first. He

would be ignorant of his parent's efforts. When he starts work, he assumes

that every person must listen to him, and when he becomes a manager, he

would never know the sufferings of his employees and would always blame

others. For this kind of people, wh o may be good academically, may be

successful for a while, but eventually would not feel sense of achievement.

He will grumble and be full of hatred and fight for more. If we are this

kind of protective parents, are we really showing love or are we destroying

the kid instead?*

You can let your kid live in a big house, eat a good meal, learn piano,

watch a big screen TV. But when you are cutting grass, please let them

experience it. After a meal, let them wash their plates and bowls together

with their brothers and sisters. It is not because you do not have money to

hire a maid, but it is because you want to love them in a right way. You

want them to understand, no matter how rich their parents are, one day their

hair will grow gray, same as the mother of that young person. The most

important thing is your kid learns how to appreciate the effort and

experience the difficulty and learns the ability to work with others to get

things done.

You would have forwarded many mails to many and many of them would have back

mailed you too...but try and forward this story to as many as

possible...this may change somebody's  fate...