A story in the Canning Examiner Community newspaper this week caught my eye. The headlines screamed “Food slashed for rent”. The article tells the story of a pensioner that has been forced to stop eating meat and cut back on cigarettes after high private rent prices and her inability to get on the list for government housing leave her with little money to spend on groceries. Now get this … The landlord is HER SON who told her that she had to accept the increase in rent or she would be out (on the street)!

Not knowing the full story, it does beg one to ask a couple of questions:

- How can her son do this to his own mother?
- Why are cigarettes taking a priority over food?

Now read the following story that’s doing the email rounds.  It is a powerful message in our modern society. We seemed to have lost our bearings & our sense of direction. Is it not time for all of us to take back that which was (is being) lost?

Forward this story to as many as possible … Who knows, this may change somebody’s fate …

One, young, academically excellent person went to apply for a managerial position in a big company. He passed the first interview. The director who did the last interview, made the last decision.

The director discovered from the CV that the youth’s academic achievements were excellent all the way, from the secondary school until the postgraduate research. He never had a year when he did not score. The director asked, “Did you obtain any scholarships in school?” The youth answered “none”. The director asked, ” Was it your father who paid for your school fees?” The youth answered, “My father passed away when I was one year old. It was my mother who paid for my school fees.” The director asked, ” Where did your mother work?” The youth answered, “My mother worked as a clothes cleaner”.

The director requested the youth to show his hands. The youth showed a pair of hands that were smooth and perfect. The director asked, ” Have you ever helped your mother wash the clothes before?” The youth answered, “Never, my mother always wanted me to study and read more books. Furthermore, my mother can wash clothes faster than me.” The director said, “I have a request. When you go back today, go and clean your mother’s hands and then see me tomorrow morning.”

The youth felt that his chance of landing the job was high. When he went back, he happily requested his mother to let him clean her hands. His mother felt strange,  but with mixed feelings, she showed her hands to her son. The youth cleaned his mother’s hands slowly. His tears fell as he did that. It was the first time he noticed that his mother’s hands were so wrinkled and that there were so many bruises in her hands. Some bruises were so painful that his mother shivered when they were cleaned with water.

This was the first time the youth realized that it was this pair of hands that washed the clothes every day to enable him to pay the school fee. The bruises in the mother’s hands were the price that the mother had to pay for his graduation, academic excellence and his future. After finishing the cleaning of his mother hands, the youth quietly washed all the remaining clothes for his mother.

That night, mother and son talked for a very long time.

Next morning, the youth went to the director’s office. The Director noticed the tears in the youth’s eyes and asked, ” Can you tell me what  you did and learned yesterday in your house?” The youth answered, ” I cleaned my mother’s hands, and also finished cleaning all the remaining clothes.’

The Director asked, ” Please tell me your feelings.”

The youth said …
- Number 1, I know now the meaning of appreciation. Without my mother, there would not be the successful me today.
- Number 2, by working together and helping my mother, only now I realize how difficult and tough it is to get something done.
- Number 3, I have come to appreciate the importance and value of family relationship.

The director said, ” This is what I am looking for in my new  manager. I want to recruit a person who can appreciate the help of others, a person who knows the sufferings of others to get things done, and a person who would not put money as his only goal in life. Son,you are hired.”

Later on, this young person worked very hard, and received the respect of his subordinates. Every employee worked diligently and as a team. The company’s performance improved tremendously.

A child, who has been over protected and habitually given whatever he or she  wanted, would develop the entitlement mentality and would always put himself first. He would be ignorant of his parent’s efforts. When he starts work, he assumes that every person must listen to him, and when he becomes a manager, he would never know the sufferings of his employees and would always blame others. This kind of person, may be good academically and may be successful for a while, but eventually would not feel a sense of achievement. He will grumble and be full of hatred and fight for more. If we are this kind of protective parents, are we really showing love or are we destroying the kid instead?

You can let your kid live in a big house, eat  good meals, learn piano, watch a big screen TV. But when you are cutting grass, please let him experience it. After a meal, let him wash his plates and bowls together with his brothers and sisters. It is not because you do not have money to hire a maid, but it is because you want to love him in the right way. You want him to understand, no matter how rich his parents are, one day their hair will grow gray, same as the mother of that young man . The most important thing is your kid learns how to appreciate the effort and experience the difficulty and learns the ability to work with others to get things done.

 

It would appear that the City of Joondalup mayor, Troy Pickard, met his match in the form of irate pensioner advocate Mike O’Brien.  The following exchange of niceties took place during public question time.

Pickard: Come forward Mr O’Brien, state your name and address and ask your question.

O’Brien: Thank you Mr Mayor, my name is Mike O’Brien, president of the Australian Pensioners and Superannuation League WA and one of two vice-presidents of the Australian Pensions Superannuation Federation. In the current 2000′s climate, when swearing and profane language seem to be accepted as being the norm, last Tuesday 14th of April, it was encouraging to hear you upholding an approach to have socially acceptable language used when the briefing session was being addressed by a member of the public. My question is: If I was to describe elected members and administrative municipal officers, who support the continued use of Section 6.35 of the local Government Act 1995 and continue pillaging pensioners’ pennies are by such actions elevating themselves to the level of sewer rats, would you like me to withdraw the comment?

Pickard: Yes

O’Brien”: Thank you Mr Mayor. The sewer rats will be delighted.

Inside Cover duly awarded this week’s Exceptional Use of Alliteration In a Local Government Setting on Mr O’Brien for his pithy “pillaging pensioners’ pennies” put-down.

We LOVE it.