[MaxandMe]

thought i'd share this True Story with y'all

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 Harvard University President's outer office.

The secretary could tell in a moment that such backwoods, country hicks had no business at Harvard & probably didn't even deserve to be in Cambridge. "We'd like to see the president," the man said softly. "He will be busy all day," the secretary snapped. "We will 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.

"Maybe if you see them for a few minutes, they'll leave," she said to him! He sighed in exasperation and nodded. Someone of his importance obviously didn't have the time to spend with them, and he detested gingham dresses and homespun suits cluttering up his outer office. The president, stern faced and with dignity, strutted toward the couple. The lady told him: "We had a son who 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, gruffly, "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 buildings here at Harvard."

For a moment the lady was silent.

The president was pleased. Maybe he could get rid of them now. The lady turned to her husband and said quietly, "Is that all it cost to start a university? Why don't we just start our own? " Her husband nodded. The president's face wilted in confusion and bewilderment. Mr. And Mrs. Leland Stanford got up and walked away, traveling to Palo Alto, California where they established the university that bears their name, Stanford University, a memorial to a son that Harvard no longer cared about.

You can easily judge the character of others by how they treat those who they think can do nothing for them.

A TRUE STORY By Malcolm Forbes

I hope to keep this in mind if i ever go to judge people.
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Annmarie, Max,& Peanut
Forum BLOG ARTICLE LINK http://blog.labradoodle-dogs.net/

"Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened." Anatole France

[Raleighsmom]

Just goes to show that you should never judge a book by it's cover!!!
Even tho we've all been guilty of it...
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Kathie,Raleigh & Molly!

"Who can believe that there is no soul behind those luminous eyes!" ~ Theophile Gautier

[sessa35]

Annmarie---great story to share!! And MANY lessons to be learned with that one, for sure!!

I learned that one right quick...in my business, you really can't "tell" whether a client has the "capacity to spend or not" based on their physical appearance!!!
oooo, that's a major big nono!!

For example, we had a client (rest his collecting soul) that during his lifetime amassed some pretty amazing and important art collections...some that are now housed by museums many of you would recognize by name...
anyhoo, point here is this: when I first saw him at an art show, I had NO idea who he was...the show was in NYC and as usual, you see lots of unique people to say the least...
In walks this guy into our booth...he's in sweats that are nearly falling off his hips, the four layers of tops he is wearing are all half taken off or left on (a total disheveled mess!!), and to top it all off, his sneakers had the toes cut off so that his big white athletic tube socks were just hanging out the front getting dirty...sooooo, I smiled and said nothing, giving him polite room to look around....
not two seconds later, my boss, who had just returned to the booth, exclaims "OH, Hey, Mr. So-and-So, Lovely to have you stop by, etc...".....boy oh boy, did I gulp hard...thankfully, I didn't say anything (I was raised to be polite!!)...phew!!!....turns out about the shoes: he had medical issues with his feet such that swelling and the need for toe circulation was important!! LOL!! ALL of his shoes, if not sandals, were like that, even for dress occasions and during winter!!!

Soooo, Good post, Annmarie....lots to learn indeed!!

And I end my two cents with someone else's great words:

Bob Marley---"Judge not, before you judge yourself....And so before you talk about me, someone else is judging you."


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REASON #12, "Why I love my doodle so": My doodle's inquisitive nature keeps her learning all the time!

[blueteal]

A good lesson for all
Nuff said.
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Sue & Denver
http://blueteal.net/denver.htm
A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself.
- Josh Billings

[seazr]

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Diane (and Dakota)
http://s42.photobucket.com/albums/e304/seazr/

[annabelles mom]

wonderful story
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Mary & Annabelle
Zippity Doodle, Zippyity ay, My O My what a WonderDoodle Day !

http://www.picturetrail.com/luvlabs

[Tink]

Totally great story and lesson.

I saw the same thing when I was working as a realtor. A couple came in asking about hobby farms and looked like they'd have trouble scraping together a down payment.
They ended up buying 160 acres of vacant land and built a $300,000 house on it without so much as flinching. In total they spent over $400,000 on their "hobby farm".

Back then the average house in the area was about $60,000 and land was $500 an acre. LOL
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www.tinkerdoodle.net
Hickory, Jessie, Ava, Gypsy, and Chip (happy master of his Harem)

[MaxandMe]

I really LOVE hearing everyone's stories. AS it also humblizes us at the same time.

i remember 10years ago a guy coming into my landscape job covered in paint with a beat up old truck NOW whether you spend $20, $200 or $2000 I give everyone the same service.
Long story short: what I didn't know was no one would help this guy cuase of the way he looked at the time, He was the owner of a major company and property management business. HE bought $2500 worth of trees from me and lived on a huge estate. He was helping out his crew that day as they were short handed
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Annmarie, Max,& Peanut
Forum BLOG ARTICLE LINK http://blog.labradoodle-dogs.net/

"Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened." Anatole France

[Cinsmom]

Our minister at the church where I belong once had a good friend of his dress like a bum just to see what would happen. As it turned out this "bum" was a very prominent lawyer and he really fooled a lot of people.

And just in case you're wondering, yes a lot of people greeted him. They were really shocked to find out who he was!

[sandy]

Sorry! The Harvard/Stanford story sounds wonderful, but according to Snopes (the Urban Legends page), it's not true. I love all the other stories people have posted here, though! I think I'm slowly learning not to quickly judge people by outward appearances. It's too easy to be wrong!
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Sandy
and Nicky the Doodle

[MaxandMe]

[sessa35]

What is true is that Stanford was a school started as a memorium to their son....and, that Leland Stanford Sr. was a man from very humble beginnings---literally pulled himself up from nothing.


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REASON #12, "Why I love my doodle so": My doodle's inquisitive nature keeps her learning all the time!