Sometimes things aren't as they appear......
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 .
"We'd like 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 you see them for a few minutes, they'll leave," she said to him!
He sighed in exasperation and nodded. Someone of his importance obviously didn't have the time to spend with them, and he detested gingham dresses and homespun suits cluttering up his outer office.
The president, stern faced and 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. 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 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 buildings here at Harvard."For a moment the lady was silent. The president was pleased. Maybe 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.
Woooo!!!! Can I get an "AMEN"?
A TRUE STORY by Malcolm Forbes
Hugs, Happiness and Harmony!
Julie





7 Comments:
At Fri May 25, 02:43:00 PM,
Lee Ann aka Dixie said…
Not only can you get one Amen.. you've got two from this Amen corner...
Prime example why you should never judge a book by it's cover...
Have a great weekend!
At Fri May 25, 06:45:00 PM,
Meribah said…
Actually, this story is an urban legend. The Stanford's only son died of typhoid at the age of 15 and never attended Harvard. The Stanford's had intended to build their own school all along, and not because they had been rebuffed by Harvard's president.
Either way, I agree with the story's sentiment: you should never judge a book by it's cover! :)
At Fri May 25, 07:46:00 PM,
Julie said…
Ahh crap! I knew I should have check this!
**runs and hides**
At Fri May 25, 08:13:00 PM,
Travis Cody said…
It may be an urban legend, but I love the story anyway. It does state the point very clearly that you shouldn't jump to conclusions based on appearance.
Although, if it's late and dark and you see a guy on the side of the road with a chainsaw and wearing a hockey mask, you might want to keep driving even if he does have a case of beer.
LOL!
At Tue May 29, 02:34:00 AM,
TopChamp said…
There's a moral to that story! Sorry to hear it's not true but I enjoyed it all the same.
At Tue May 29, 02:35:00 AM,
TopChamp said…
sorry should have metioned: linked over from Travis' blog.
At Tue May 29, 04:43:00 PM,
JAM said…
It's still a good story though. I, however, fell hook line and sinker for the old email about Lee Marvin appearing on Johnny Carson and talking about what a brave soldier that Bob Keshan had been on Iwo Jima. Bob Keshan was Captain Kangaroo. Great story, also false. Oh well.
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