Friday 24 July 2015

#What goes around comes around

Keep doing good things...it comes back in unusual ways

This is a true story that had happened in 1892 at  Stanford University.   It's moral is still relevant today.

A young, 18 year old student was struggling to pay his  fees. He
was an orphan, and not knowing where to turn for money, he  came up with a bright idea. A friend and he decided to host a  z,concert
on campus to raise money for their education.

They reached out to the great pianist Ignacy J. Paderewski. His manager demanded a guaranteed fee of $2,000 for the  piano
recital. A deal was struck. And the boys began to work to make the  concert a success.

The big day arrived. Paderewski performed at Stanford.

But unfortunately, they had not managed to sell enough  tickets. The total collection was only $1,600. Disappointed, they  went to Paderewski and explained their plight. They gave him  the entire $1,600, plus a cheque for the balance of $400. They  promised to honour the cheque soonest possible.

"No" said Paderewski. "This is not acceptable" He tore up  the cheque,
returned the $1,600 and told the boys "Here's the  $1,600.

Please deduct whatever expenses you have incurred. Keep  the money you need for your fees. And just give me whatever is  left" The boys were surprised, and thanked him profusely.

It was a small act of kindness. But it clearly marked out  Paderewski as a great human being. Why should he help two people  he did not even know? We all come across situations like these in  our lives.

And most of us only think "If I help them, what  would happen to
me?"

The truly great people think, "If I don't help  them, what will happen to them?" They don't do it expecting  something in return.

They do it because they feel it's the right thing  to do.

Paderewski later went on to become the Prime Minister of Poland. He was a great leader, but unfortunately when the World  War began, Poland was ravaged. There were over 1.5 million people starving in his country, and no money to feed them.

Paderewski did not know where to turn for help. He reached out to the US Food and Relief Administration for help.

The head was a man called Herbert Hoover - who later  went on to
become the US President. Hoover agreed to help and  quickly shipped tons of food grains to fee the starving Polish people.A calamity was averted.

Paderewski was relieved. He decided to
go across to meet Hoover and personally thank him. When Paderewski began to thank Hoover for his noble gesture, Hoover quickly interjected and said, "You  shouldn't
be thanking me, Mr. Prime Minister. You may not  remember this, but several years ago, you helped two young students go  through
college in the US. I was one of them."

The world is a wonderful place. What goes around usually  comes around.