Thought Provoking: 5/31/07

A man, as he almost always did, came home late from work one night. He was tired and irritated. Upon his arrival he found his six-year old son waiting for him at the door.

"Daddy, may I ask you a question?" "Yeah, sure, what is it?" replied the father grumpily.
"Daddy, how much money do you earn in an hour?" "That's none of your business! What makes you ask such a thing?" the man responded angrily.

"I just want to know. Please tell me, how much money do you make in an hour?" pleaded the little boy.

"If you must know, I make $30.00 an hour" " Oh," the little boy replied, head bowed down and a tear in his eye. Looking up, he asked, "Daddy, may I borrow $15.00, please?"

The father was furious. "If the only reason you want to know how much money I make is just so you can borrow some to buy some silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march straight to your bedroom and go to bed. Think about why you're so selfish. I work long, very hard hours and I don't have time for such childish games."

The six-year old child went to this room and shut his door.

The father sat in the living room and became even angrier about the little boy's request for $15.00.

How dare he ask such questions only to get money?

After some time passed, the man had calmed down. He started to think about how hard he had been on his son. Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that $15.00. He really did not ask for money very often.

The man went to his son's door and knocked. "Are you asleep son?" he asked. "No daddy, I'm awake." Replied the boy. "I've been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier," the man said. "It's been a long day and I took my aggravation out on you. Here is the $15.00 you asked for.

The little boy sat straight up, beaming. "Oh, thank you daddy!" he yelled. Then, reaching under his mattress, he pulled out several crumpled dollar bills.

The man, seeing that the boy already had money, started to become angry again. The little boy slowly counted out his money, and then looked up at the man. "Why did you want more money if you already had some?" the father growled.

"Because I didn't have enough, but now I do," the little boy answered. "Daddy, I have $30.00 now...Can I buy an hour of your time?"

The old-time father who used to wonder where his boy was now has a grandson who wonders where his father is.