Can I Borrow $5?

A woman came home
from work late, tired and
irritated, to find her 7-year
old son waiting for her at
the door.
SON: 'Mummy, may I ask
you a question?'
MUM: 'Yeah sure, what it
is?' replied the woman.
SON: 'Mummy, how much
do you make an hour?'
MUM: 'That's none of your
business. Why do you ask
such a thing?' the woman
said angrily.
SON: 'I just want to know.
Please tell me, how much
do you make an hour?'
MUM: 'If you must know, I
make $20 an hour.'
SON: 'Oh,' the little boy
replied, with his head
down.
SON: "Mummy, may I
please borrow $5?"
The mother was furious, 'If
the only reason you asked
that is so you can
borrow some money to
buy a silly toy or some
other nonsense, then you
march
yourself straight to your
room and go to bed.
Think about why you are
being
so selfish. I don't work
hard everyday for such
childish frivolities.'
The little boy quietly went
to his room and shut the
door..
The woman sat down and
started to get even
angrier about the little
boy's
questions.. How dare he
ask such questions only to
get some money?
After about an hour or so,
the woman had calmed
down, and started to
think:
Maybe there was
something he really
needed to buy with that $
5 and he
really didn't ask for
money very often. The
woman went to the door
of the
little boy's room and
opened the door.
'Are you asleep, son?' She
asked.
'No Mummy, I'm awake,'
replied the boy.
'I've been thinking, maybe
I was too hard on you
earlier' said the woman.
'It's been a long day and
I took out my aggravation
on you. Here's the $5
you asked for.'
The little boy sat straight
up, smiling. 'Oh, thank you
Mummy!' he yelled.
Then, reaching under his
pillow he pulled out some
crumpled up bills.
The woman saw that the
boy already had money,
started to get angry
again.
The little boy slowly
counted out his money,
and then looked up at his
mother.
'Why do you want more
money if you already have
some?' the mother
grumbled.
'Because I didn't have
enough, but now I do,'
the little boy replied.
'Mummy, I have $20 now.
Can I buy an hour of your
time? Please come home
early tomorrow. I would
like to have dinner with
you.'
The mother was crushed.
She put her arms around
her little son, and she
begged for his
forgiveness.
It's just a short reminder
to all of you working so
hard in life.. We
should not let time slip
through our fingers
without having spent some
time
with those who really
matter to us, those close
to our hearts. Do
remember
to share that $20 worth of
your time with someone
you love.
If we die tomorrow, the
company that we are
working for could easily
replace us in a matter of
hours. But the family &
friends we leave behind
will feel the loss for the
rest of their lives.

--
*Abhishek K. Pandey*