Scoop’s Views

People often say, "It’s all a matter of perspective," but many times when other say it, it is because you are going through a rough time.

It’s always easy to see how others have it so easy in life, especially while you’re fighting to make a mortgage payment on time so you and your family don’t end up living on the street on the 5th of next month.

To help put a bittersweet touch of reality into the "perspective" issue, here’s a little ditty I received a few days ago from a friend.

One day, the father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the express purpose of showing him how poor people live.

They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family. On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, "How was the trip?"

"It was great, Dad."

"Did you see how poor people live?" the father asked.

"Oh yeah," said the son.

"So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?" asked the father.

The son answered: "I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night. Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon. We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight. We have servants who serve us, but they serve others. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us, they have family and friends to protect them," the son said.

The boy’s father was speechless. Then his son added, "Thanks Dad for showing me how poor we are.’"

Isn’t perspective a wonderful thing?