Fwd: Fw: Spirit Brief - Week of March 14, 1999

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 3/19/99 8:43:25 AM Eastern Standard Time, MHill820 writes:

<< The following Spirit Brief is from Sr. Marie Knipfer (Member of

> Regional Mission Services Committee):

>

> It is a life long lesson for each of us to learn -- to let others

" be "

> who they are, rather than putting our interpretation on who we think they

> " seem " to be. Perhaps as we journey through these weeks of Lent and

JCAHO,

> we can remind ourselves of the power to be ourselves as intended by our

> Creator and allow others the same gift.

>

> To Be Rather Than to Seem

>

> A lady in a faded gingham dress and her husband, dressed in a homespun

> threadbare suit, stepped off the train in Boston, and walked timidly

> without an appointment into the Harvard University president's outer

> office. The secretary could tell in a moment that such backwoods,

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 snapped.

> " We'll wait, " the lady replied.

>

> For hours, the secretary ignored them, hoping that the couple would

finally

> become discouraged and go away. 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 just see you for a few minutes they'll leave, " she told

him.

>

> He signed in exasperation and nodded. Someone of his importance

obviously

> didn't have the time to spend with them, but he detested gingham dresses

> and homespun suits cluttering up his outer office.

>

> The president, stern faced with dignity, strutted toward the couple.

> The lady told him, " We had a son who attended Harvard for one year. He

> loved Harvard. He was happy here. But about a year ago, he was

> accidentally killed. And my husband and I would like to erect a memorial

> to him, somewhere on 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 earthly 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, " Is that all it

costs

> to start a university? Why don't we just start our own? "

>

> Her husband nodded. The president's face wilted in 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

do

> nothing for them or to them.

>

> - - Malcolm Forbes

>

>

>>