A man came home from
work late , tired and irritated, to find
his 5-year old son
waiting for him at the door.
SON: “Daddy
, may I ask you a question?”
DAD: “Yeah, sure; what it is?”
SON: “Daddy
, how much do you make an hour?”
DAD (angrily): “That’s none of your business.
Why do you ask such a thing?!”
SON: “I just want to know. Please
tell me , how much do you make
an hour?”
DAD: “If you must know , I make $50 an hour.”
SON: “Oh…” the little boy replied, with his head
down.
SON: “Daddy, may I please borrow $25?”
The father was furious: “If the only reason you asked that is so
you can borrow
some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense,
then you march
yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about
why you are
being so selfish. I don’t work hard everyday for such
childish frivolities.” The little boy quietly went to his room and
shut the door.
The man sat down and started to get
even angrier about the little boy’s questions. How dare he ask such questions only to get some
money? After about an
hour or so, the man had calmed down, and started to
think: Maybe there was something he really
needed to buy with that $25.00. He really
didn’t ask for money very often.
The man went to the door
of the little
boy’s room and opened the door. “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,” said the man. “It’s been a
long day, and I
took out my aggravation on you. Here’s the $25 you asked
for.”
The little boy sat straight up, smiling. “Oh, thank you, Daddy!” He yelled. Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some
crumpled up bills.
The man saw that the boy already had money, started to
get angry
again. The little boy slowly counted out his money,
and then looked up
at his father.
“Why do you want more money if you
already have some?”
the father grumbled.
“Because I didn’t have enough, but
now I do,”
the little boy replied. “Daddy, I have $50 now. Can I
buy an hour of
your time? Please come home early tomorrow. I would like
to have dinner
with you.”
