One day the father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the express purpose of showing him how poor people live. They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what the father considered a very poor family.

On returning to their home, the father asked his son: 'How was the trip son?' 'It was great, Dad.'

'Do you now understand what its like to be poor?' asked the father. 'Oh yeah,' replied the son.

'So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?' asked the father. The son answered:

'I saw that we have one dog and they have four. 
We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our yard 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 take a car on the freeway to go to school, 
    they take each other's hand and walk through the wildflowers.
We have servants who serve us, they have the honor to serve others.
We buy our food, but they can grow theirs.
We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them.'

The boy's father was speechless.

Then his son added , 'Thanks Dad for showing me how poor we are.'

Isn't perspective a wonderful thing? Makes you wonder what would happen if we all gave thanks for everything we have, instead of worrying about what we don't have. Why not appreciate every single thing we do have, especially our friends!

Life is short, let's cultivate our friendships!