A thought worth sharing
Kevin Pate (kevinpate@YAHOO.COM)
Fri, 28 Aug 1998 09:08:44 -0700
The following was shared with me through another list earlier in the
week. I shared this with my children last night during a conversation
about jumping to conclusions too quickly. Based on their reaction, I
now share this will you in hopes you will share it with others.
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Snap Judgment
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 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 to do.
"Maybe if they just see you for a few minutes, they'll leave," she
told him. And 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 that 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 gruffy, "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.
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