One day a father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the firm purpose of showing his son 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 what did you learn from the trip?” asked the father.

The son answered, “I saw that we have one dog and they have 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 friends to protect them“.

With this the boy’s father was speechless.

Then his son added, “Thanks, Dad, for showing me how poor we are.”

Too often we forget what we have and concentrate on what we don’t have. What is one’s person’s worthless object is another’s prized possession. It is all based on one’s perspective. Wonder what would happen if we all gave thanks for all the bounty we have instead of worrying about wanting more. Not giving thanks for all the things we already have and constantly cribbing and complaining about a thing or two missing in our lives, is the height of ingratitude. 

We should take joy and appreciate every single thing we have, especially our friends.

Let us discover and know the joys in the smallest and the most insignificant things.