A Story from a Wise Friend

A friend told me this story over lunch yesterday.

There was this man named Michael Ng.
He's married with one child.

One day, the child approached his mother, wanting to discuss something.
His mum told him that he would need to talk to his dad for it.
And so, he waited for daddy to come home.

When Michael came home, the boy approached his father and said, "Daddy, i have something that need your help, would you have an hour for me?"
Michael, being a busy person, told his son, "Daddy's busy, i have to go out in a while, look for mummy okie?"

Thus, it ended as it is. The child did not manage to talk to Michael.

About a week later, as Michael was almost reaching home, he bumped into his neighbour.
"Hi Michael"
"Hi, how are you doing?"
"Great. anyway, i see John taking money from Uncle Tan yesterday. You are already allowing him to work part time? wah, very tough on a child. "
"Oh...maybe my wife approved of that. thanks for telling."

John had been doing housework and running errands for the neighbours.
He gets roughly ten dollars a day; cleaning windows, walking dogs, sweeping the backyard...etc.

When Michael got home, he asked for John.
"John, come here!"
John walked to his father.
"Why did you take money from Uncle Tan?"
Then Michael gave a slap to John's face, without waiting for a reply.

"Michael! what are you doing?!"
"You, why did allow your son to work? don't i bring back enough money for the family?"
"Of course you do. so what's the big deal about it? do you know why John did what he did?
It's all because of you!"
"Don't you try to be defensive and not admit your mistake."
"Your son wanted to work, so that he can save up a 100 dollars to buy 1 hour of your time."

That fine day, after Michael told John to look for mummy again, she told him that daddy's time is precious and he can make a 100 dollars an hour.
Thus, John had been working for the past week, earning 10 dollars a day. Perhaps~ he could use that money to purchase some of his daddy's time.

[had been writing a lot less over here and more frequently on my facebook. maybe it's time to shift again soon. perhaps to wordpress]