Software Symphony 65 'Playthings' - Page 22

He was mad when his rich boss ignored him, but was shocked to learn this

Just when you think you have everything figured out, something inexpiable will happen to shake you up and give you a reality-check.

Could this be a sign from above that we don't have all the answers?

Quiet your thoughts, your perceptions, and your biases. The Universe is talking.

In the following story from Jolly Christian, a man learns a valuable lesson about judging others.

Read the heart-felt story below.

My boss drove a luxury car everyday, and it was my duty to greet him and to open the gates for him, as I worked as a watchman in his villa. But he never responded back to my greetings.

One day he saw me opening the garbage bags outside the villa in search of any leftover food. But as usual, he never even looked at me, it was like as if he never saw anything.

The very next day I saw a paper bag at the same place, but it was clean and the food inside was covered well. It was fresh, like someone had just brought it from the supermarket. I didn't care where it came from, I just took the paper bag and I was so happy.

Every day I found this paper bag at the same place with fresh vegetables and all the food we needed at home. This became my daily routine. I was eating and sharing this food with my wife and kids. I was wondering who this fool could be. How could he forget his paper bag full of fresh food everyday?

One day there was a big problem in the villa, and I was told that my boss has died. There were too many guests coming to the villa that day and I didn't find the bag of food, so I thought that one of the guests must have taken it. But the same thing happened the 2nd day, the 3rd day and the 4th day.

It went on like this for a few weeks and I found it difficult to provide food for my family, so I decided to ask the wife of my boss for a raise in my salary or else I would quit my job as a watchman.

After I told her, she was shocked, and asked me, how come you never complained about your salary for the last 2 years? And why is this salary not enough for you now? I gave her so many excuses but she was never convinced!

Finally in the end, I decided to tell her the truth, I told her the entire story of the bag of groceries, and as to how it was my daily provision. She then asked me when the mystery bags stopped appearing. I told her after the death of her husband. And then I realized that I stopped seeing the paper bag immediately after the death of my boss. Why didn't I ever think of this before? It was my boss who was providing this for me, all along. I guess I never thought that a person who never even replied to my greetings could ever be so generous.

His wife started to cry, and I told her to please stop crying, and that I'm really sorry that I asked for a raise, I didn't know that it was your husband who was providing me with the meals, I'll remain as a watchman and be happy to provide my service.

His wife told me, "I'm crying because I've finally found the 7th person my husband was giving this bag full of food. I knew my husband was giving to 7 people everyday, I had already found the 6 people, and all these days I was searching for the 7th person. And today I found out."

From that day onward, I started to receive the bag full of food again, but this time his son was bringing it to my house and giving it to my hand. But whenever I thanked him, he never replied. Just like his dad!

One day, I told him THANK YOU in a very loud voice! He replied back to me to please not be offended when he doesn't reply, because he has a hearing problem, just like his dad.

This is one of those stories that rings true for all people, across diverse populations. The lesson? Never judge someone based on appearances.

Luckily, there is another method that doesn't involve assumptions. It's called asking. It's called getting to know someone. Be humble enough to learn from the experiences around you.

Every person you come across is fighting a secret battle. Don't jump to conclusions, because it's so easy to have the answer wrong.

You don't know it all. In fact, the more you think you know, the less you probably do.

It's time to practice respect, and to change the way we feel about ourselves and others.