Harvard Humility
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 and probably didn't even deserve to be in Cambridge. She
frowned.
"We want to see the President," the man said softly. "He'll be busy all
day," the secretary snapped. "We'll 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 they just see you for a few minutes, they'll
leave," she told him. He sighed in exasperation and nodded. Someone of his
importance obviously didn't have the time to spend with them, but he
detested gingham dresses and homespun suits cluttering up his outer office.
The President, stern-faced 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. And 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 plant at Harvard." For a moment the lady was
silent. The president was pleased. He could get rid of them now. And the
lady turned to her husband and said quietly, "Is that all it costs to start
a university? Why don't we just start our own?" Her husband nodded. The
President's face wilted in
confusion and bewilderment.
And Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stanford walked away, traveling to Palo Alto,
California where they established the university that bears their name, 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 can do nothing for them
or to them.
-- by Malcolm Forbes
By in large land speed racers show a great strength of character.
Witnessed by the helping hands you can always find at Bonneville or any LSR
event.
John Beckett, LSR #79
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