To despise others is to despise oneself
An old couple in the United States, the woman wearing a faded cotton striped dress and her husband wearing a cheap cloth suit, went directly to visit the president of Harvard without a prior appointment.
The president's secretary decided in a moment that it was impossible for these two peasant boys to have any business with Harvard.
The husband said softly, "We want to see the headmaster." The secretary said politely, "He's been busy all day!"
The woman replied, "That's OK. We can wait."
After several hours, the secretary ignored them, hoping that they would give up and go away. And they waited there.
The secretary finally decided to inform the headmaster: "Perhaps they will talk to you a few words and then go away."
The headmaster impatiently agreed.
The principal faced the couple with dignity and grudgingly.
The woman told him, "We have a son who went to Harvard for a year. He loves Harvard. He is very happy there. But last year, he died in an accident. My husband and I would like to have a memorial for him on campus."
The president was not impressed, but rather amused, and said in a rough voice, "Madam, we can't erect a statue to every person who went to Harvard and died." If we do that, our campus will look like a cemetery."
The woman said, "No, we don't want to erect a statue. We want to donate a building to Harvard."
The principal looked carefully at the striped suit and the cheap denim suit, then exhaled, "Do you have any idea how much it costs to build a building? Our school buildings are over $7.5 million."
At this moment, the lady was silent. The headmaster was glad to get rid of them at last.
The woman turned to her husband and said, "You can build a building for $7.5 million? Why don't we build a university in memory of our son?"
And so the Stanfords left Harvard. They moved to California and founded Stanford University in memory of their son. That's how Stanford came to be.
Life insight:
Please don't despise anyone around you, contempt for others is contempt for yourself. Respect everyone around you.
(责任编辑：立暖) |