black t shirt|
“How do we measure a man?”
Throughout the years, man has been asking himself this question. It is important as the right answer would help us tremendously. If we can measure a man correctly, it would certainly help us make better decisions, minimize much heartache and yes, make us a lot wealthier and happier.
And throughout the years as well, the answer, has been blowing in the wind.
Some of the more common answers are through his family line, birthplace, school, paper qualifications, friends, acquaintances and certainly bank account.
I’ve met many people who insist on measuring a man based on his family line. If he came from a well-to-do and distinguished family, then he’s all right. However, that argument counts out ninety percent of the population already! Furthermore, we do not have a say at all about who our parents would be. We do not have a choice here. So perhaps that is not a good measure after all.
Then, I’ve ran into some people who claim that if you were born in a certain state or country, then you are indeed the chosen one. “See, many of the CEOs of public listed companies and millionaires are from this particular state,” they point out gleefully. However, since 5.99 billion people (that includes Bill Gates and Lim Goh Tong among others) did not come from that particular state, I threw that answer out the window as well.
Then there are others who claim that paper qualifications are the only true measure. Only natural born geniuses and rocket scientists can rule the world. Only problem is that these geniuses are always working for someone else who probably did not graduate from college! I have a few millionaire friends who cannot spell universities correctly let alone attend these institutions.
Of course, some dimmer lights believe that the way to measure a man is by the car he drives. I don’t think I have to elaborate where I would place such thoughts.
So all of the above answers are incorrect. Some are close but are not quite there yet. Close but no cigar. So we go on searching for the solution still.
Perhaps the solution is the one given to me some years ago by a beautiful young girl. We were talking about the relationship about men and women when this very subject came up. She said something that stunned the daylights out of me.
“The measure of a man,” she said sweetly. “is the condition of his shoes!”
“Huh?”
She repeated her answer, “I measure a man by the condition of his shoes.”
I was stunned. I have heard of many answers to the question but that was the first time I heard of measuring a man by the condition of his shoes.
Obviously, I asked her why.
“It’s very simple, Azizi.” she answered. “A man who takes care of his shoes will have everything else in place.”
She took a sip of her drink and then elaborated on her answer, “See, the shoes are the last thing anyone would take care of. They would take care of their hair, face, body, clothes, pants and shoes – in that order. Since most people are always rushing to get somewhere, they often neglect the last item in the list which is the shoes. So any man who takes the time to care for his shoes will obviously have taken care of everything else already. He would be the chosen one.”
I was speechless.
As simple logic as it was, this bright young girl had a point. I looked back and realized that statement applied to most, if not all, the folks (both men and women) that I knew. If their shoes were scrappy, they are scrappy. If the shoes were spick and span, they shine like a beacon. (By the way, it is the condition of the shoes that counts here, not the brand or the price.)
Then a thought flashed through my brain, “Hey, that’s not quite fair. A rich man would certainly have good clean shoes. He is not the one doing all the cleaning. Someone is doing it for him.”
The girl smile sweetly and winked her eye, “Like I said, I measure a man by the condition of his shoes!”
[ad_2]
write by Stephen