Since as long as you can remember, your life was your studies.
As soon as you learned your alphabet, your only goal was to grow in academic knowledge so that you could one day be a success, and make your parents proud.
So enveloped in notes, lectures and essays, you had a one-track mind. It never even occurred to you that a whole world was going on, outside of your mind.
In the following story from Moral Stories, a high-achiever learns a valuable lesson.
Read the motivational story below.
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 his resume that the youth’s academic achievements were excellent all the way, from the middle 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 smooth 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 that 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’s 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 be 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 something 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.
How insightful.
Behind every success lies an untold story. The young man spent his whole life toiling over books to become an academic.
Yet he never realized what had to happen behind the scenes to earn him the possibilities he was fortunate enough to have.
The bruised and wrinkled hands of his mother say it all. She is living proof of the sacrifices that a loving parent will make to see that her offspring has the greatest chance at life.
Now it’s this young man’s turn to show her well-deserved appreciation.
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