One day, after coming back from Vietnam with the express purpose of showing him how poor Sang and his wife used to live. Sang and the family spent a couple of days and nights on their family farm of what would be considered a very poor: no toiletries, no running water, and no electricity.
On the return from our trip, Sang asked Jim, his son, “How was the trip?”
“It was great, Dad.”
“Did you see how poor people live?” the Sang asked.
“Oh yeah,” said Jim
“So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?” asked the Sang.
The Jim answered: “I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a river 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 people 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.”
Sang was speechless.
Then his son added, “Thanks Dad for showing me how poor we are.”
Story inspired by Keta, India
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