One day a lady faded in gingham and her husband, dressed in a homespun threadbare suit, walked timidly without an appointment into the “Harvard University” president’s outer office. The secretary could tell in a moment that such country hicks had no business at “Harvard”. She frowned.
“We want to meet the president”, the man said softly. “He will be busy all the 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. “May be if they just see you for few minutes, they will leave”, she told him and he sighed in exasperation and nodded. Someone of his importance obviously didn’t have the time to spend with them. Stern faced with dignity, the president strutted towards the couple.
The lady told him, “We had a son who attended “Harvard” for one year. He loved Harvard and he was very happy here. But about a year ago, he was accidently killed. And my husband and I would like to erect a memorial to him, somewhere on he campus”. The president wasn’t touched, he was shocked.
“Madam”, he said gruffly, “we can’t put up a statue for everyone who attended Harvard and died. If we did, the 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, and 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.
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.
Mr and Mrs Leland Stanford walked away, travelling to “Palo Alto”. California, where they established the University that bears their name, a memorial to a son that Harvard no longer cared about!.
The Bottom Line:
Appearances can of course be deceptive, but most the time that is what we go by. “Is that not true?” "I feel it is absolutely true and people often make it. Be careful friends, don't fall in this trap. It is my humble request to you all".
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