One day a father, of a very wealthy family, took his son on a trip to a country with the firm purpose of showing his son how poor people can be. They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family.
On their return from the trip, the father asked his son, “How was the trip?” “It was great Dad!” “Did you see how poor people can be?” the father asked. “Oh yeah,” said the son. “So what did you learn from the trip?” asked the father.
The son answered, “I saw 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.”
© Paulo Coelho
