The Lesson

A foreign exchange student attending school in America, asked his grandfather from Eastern Europe to come and visit him. When grandfather arrived, the two spent the next few days seeing the town and touring the college campus.

On the day before his grandfather was to leave, the student asked his grandfather to meet him after class at the school cafeteria for lunch.

The grandfather arrived a little early and sat down at an empty table and waited for someone to take his order, but nobody did.

Finally, a student with her tray of food sat down opposite him and informed him how the cafeteria worked. “Start out at that end,” she said. “Just go along the line and pick out what you want. At the other end they will tell you how much you have to pay.”

A few minutes later the young student arrived. He explained why he was late getting out of class.

Then the grandfather told his grandson, “I have learned how everything works here in America. Life’s a cafeteria here.”

Grandfather paused then said, “You can get anything you want as long as you are willing to pay the price. You can even get success, but you will never get it if you wait for someone to bring it to you. Just like the food here in the cafeteria—you have to get up and get it yourself.”

The Best Of Success To You,

"As one goes through life, one learns that if you don't paddle your own canoe, you don't move."
-- Katharine Hepburn (1907-2003)