An article worth reading...

dev.in.doha
By dev.in.doha

A lady in a faded grey dress and her husband, dressed in a homespun suit walked in 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 Harvard.
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 way.
They didn't and the secretary grew frustrated and finally decided to disturb the president.' Maybe if you see them for a few minutes, they'll leave,' she said to him.

The President, stern faced and 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.

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, and 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 buildings here at Harvard.
For a moment the lady was silent. The president was pleased. Maybe he could get rid of them now.
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.
Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stanford got up and walked away, traveling to Palo
Alto, California where they established the University that bears their name - Stanford University, a memorial to a son that Harvard no longer
cared about.
Most of the time we judge people by their outer appearance, which can be misleading, and in this impression only we tend to treat people badly by thinking they can do nothing for us thus we tend to loose our potential good friends, employees or customers.
Great people talk about ideas,
Average people talk about things,
Small people talk about others.

By rehanbutt• 6 Jul 2009 15:14
rehanbutt

good story

By QatariLady• 6 Jul 2009 14:50
QatariLady

Seriously sounds like PR

By dev.in.doha• 6 Jul 2009 13:58
dev.in.doha

u made tht quote??...good 1

dEV,

Every man/woman is the architect of his own fortune...

By QatariLady• 6 Jul 2009 13:54
QatariLady

[quote:]"Stanford University, a memorial to a son that Harvard no longer cared about."

Sounds like Stanford PR made this slogan!

By anonymous• 5 Jul 2009 17:28
anonymous

I haven't read any but I assume they publish factual stuff that is meant to help you; not made up stories that have no basis in reality.

Maybe I am wrong? .....

 

 

 

I refuse to drink the kool-aid! -- PM

By Victory_278692• 5 Jul 2009 08:55
Victory_278692

"Small people talk about others"

Nice story....

By anonymous• 5 Jul 2009 08:45
anonymous

No PM, These are called 'Feel-good' stories that you normally find in self help books..

By anonymous• 4 Jul 2009 22:44
anonymous

has a nice outcome. These are called fairy tales :-)

 

 

 

I refuse to drink the kool-aid! -- PM

By chinitasai08• 4 Jul 2009 22:42
Rating: 3/5
chinitasai08

true or not..but the lesson is there..

we will not judge a person by their outer look/appearance...

MyHotComments

By starfaith25• 4 Jul 2009 22:28
Rating: 5/5
starfaith25

nice dev...

Life's a bitch and then you DIE! ;)

By anonymous• 4 Jul 2009 22:22
anonymous

But not true, so I guess you can say "nice fairytale" :-)

 

 

 

I refuse to drink the kool-aid! -- PM

By chinitasai08• 4 Jul 2009 22:16
Rating: 4/5
chinitasai08

really nice story - dev...

:)

MyHotComments

By anonymous• 4 Jul 2009 17:17
anonymous

"Most of the time we judge people by their outer appearance" reminds me of another story.

After watching a concert by a night club singer, a lady approached and congratulated him, then asked "Why don't you sing a few of my son's songs?".

The guy smirked at her, "Lady, I just cannot start singing songs written by any Tom, Dick and Harry"

"But", the lady started to say something.

The man cut her off "Tell him to record some of his songs on a tape cassette, and send them to my agent. I am sorry, but I am really busy now, if you will excuse me.."

The lady smiled and said "You do not understand, my son is Billy Joel".

By dev.in.doha• 4 Jul 2009 14:40
Rating: 3/5
dev.in.doha

Mandi...hats off to your knowledge....i recieved a mail, i thought of sharing with QLers....i dont know, its true or not.....

dEV,

eVeRyTHinG dEsIRAblE, Is eITHEr eXPEnSIVe, bAnnED, ilLOgiCal oR SeEING(maRRiED to) sOMEonE ElsE...... ;-)

By Mandilulur• 4 Jul 2009 14:32
Rating: 5/5
Mandilulur

Nice story but ... According to Stanford University, this eRumor is not true. Leland Stanford was once governor of California and in 1876, he bought the first of what would become more than 8,000 acres of land on the San Francisco peninsula. Leland and Jane Stanford had one son, Leland, Jr., but he never attended Harvard. He died at the age of 15 on a family trip to Italy, but from typhoid fever, not from an accident. Within a few hours of his son's death, Stanford said to his wife, "The children of California shall be our children." That was the beginning of Stanford University, according to the official account.

Mandi

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