The Stanford Story

[abohalah2020]

A lady in a faded gingham dress and her husband, dressed in a homespun threadbare suit, stepped off the train in Boston, and walked timidly without an appointment into the president's outer office at Harvard.
The secretary could see that the people were not from Boston, and probably didn't even deserve to be in Cambridge. She frowned. "We want 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 to do.
"Maybe if they just see you for a few minutes, they'll 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, but he detested gingham dresses and Homespun suits cluttering up his outer office.
The president, stern-faced with dignity, strutted toward the couple. The lady told him, "We had a son that attended Harvard for one year. He loved Harvard. He was happy here. But about a year ago, he was accidentally killed. And 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, 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.
And 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.

And Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stanford walked away, traveling to Palo Alto, California where they established the University that bears their name, a memorial to a son that Harvard no longer cared about.

You can't judge a book by the cover....

Don't look at people with your eyes....

Look at them with your heart

http://shoeschool.com/short_stories/stanford-story.html

[شذى الوادي]

Wow Subhan Allah ,it's a real story .I wonder how they built that famous university while they seem poor people .But as u said "Don't look at people with your eyes ,Look at them with your heart" .So this is the lesson of the story .Well,, You know, many famous companies now had basically a queer and remarkable beginning such as Al-Baik Restaurant

I read that it starts with a simple place so people in ksa saw that it was a strange food in which they are not familiar with .At the beginning, people went to it scarcely but then and as you can see they can't resist the delicious food there . Thanks , an excellent selection for the story , u see I'm the student now lol
Best wishes

[abohalah2020]

thank you very much to visit
this page
ther are alot of people who make their successfullness by themself
you are right in what you have said
ALBaik is a symbol of successfullness
all beople especially

here in jeddah

like their fried chickens

and I do too

[الباسل3003]

Interesting story, i've read it before but something made me think alot, and that's the saying : You can't judge a book by the cover. l

You see, in our culture there's another opposing saying wich says: from the title you can judge the letter. l

And i feel like confused wich one is right? l

I guess none of them is wrong but sometimes we should decide from the situation wich saying to believe. l

thanks brother abohalah

[abohalah2020]

my dear frind

الباسل

i am very
intreasted

your speak are very intersting

thank you very much for your visit

I think sometimes

You can't judge a book by the cover

[شذى الوادي]

المشاركة الأصلية كتبت بواسطة الباسل3003 Interesting story, i've read it before but something made me think alot, and that's the saying : You can't judge a book by the cover. l You see, in our culture there's another opposing saying wich says: from the title you can judge the letter. l And i feel like confused wich one is right? l I guess none of them is wrong but sometimes we should decide from the situation wich saying to believe. l thanks brother abohalah

If found an answer to your good question

The cover is different from the title .Whereas the cover related to the appearance of the book and we can notice that many books are decorated well from outside but it contains insignificants details and information

The other proverb refers to the title of the book .Normally , the title reflects the content and the information that is inside the book

To sum up , the first proverb has to do with the outside of the book and the other with the inside ,so both of them are correct

Best wishes

[الباسل3003]

what a great thinking and explanation , thank you very much