Read & Return

Always   remember to play nicely in the sandbox.  You never know when one of those people may become your  best  friend for life.  READ ALL THE  WAY THROUGH AND SEE HOW YOU FEEL AND IF YOU  DECIDE PLEASE RETURN AS IT  STATES. Interesting and  very thoughtful message for all to read.                                                                  A successful  businessman was growing old and knew it was time to choose a successor to  take over the business. Instead of choosing one of his Directors or his children, he decided to do something different.  He called all the young  executives in his company together. He said, "It is time for me  to  step down and choose the next CEO. I have  decided to choose one of you. "The young executives were  Shocked, but the boss continued. "I am going to  give each one of you a SEED today  - one very  special SEED.   I want you to  plant the seed, water it, and come back here one  year from today  with what you have grown from  the seed I have given you. I will  then judge the plants  that you bring, and the  one I choose  will be the next CEO."     One man, named Jim,  was there that day and he, like the others,  received a seed. He went home and excitedly, told his wife the story. She helped him get a  pot, soil and compost and he planted the seed.   Every day, he would water it and watch  to see if  it had grown.    After about three  weeks, some of the other executives began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were  beginning  to grow. Jim kept checking his  seed, but nothing ever grew Three weeks,four weeks, five weeks went by, still nothing. By now, others  were talking about their plants, but Jim didn't  have a plant and he felt like a failure. Six months went by  --  still nothing in Jim's pot. He just  knew  he had killed his seed.  Everyone else had  trees and tall plants, but he had nothing Jim  didn't say anything to his  colleagues, however,  he just kept watering  and fertilizing the  soil - He so wanted the seed to grow. A year finally went by and all the young executives of the   company brought their plants to  the CEO  for inspection. Jim told his wife that he wasn't going to take an empty pot. But she asked him to be  honest about what happened. Jim felt   sick  to his stomach, it was going to be the  most embarrassing moment of his life,  but  he knew his wife was right. He took his  empty pot to the  boardroom. When Jim arrived, he was amazed at the variety of  plants  grown by the other executives. They  were  beautiful - in all shapes and sizes. Jim put  his empty pot on the floor and many of his  colleagues laughed, a few felt sorry for him! When the CEO arrived,  he surveyed the room and greeted his young   executives. Jim just  tried to hide in the back. "My, what  great  plants, trees and flowers you have grown," said the CEO. "Today one of you will  be appointed the next CEO!" All of a sudden, the CEO spotted Jim at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered the Financial  Director to bring him to the  front. Jim was terrified.. He thought,  "The  CEO knows I'm a failure! Maybe he will have me fired!" When Jim got to  the front, the CEO asked him what had happened to his seed, Jim told him the story. The CEO asked  everyone to sit down except Jim.  He looked  at Jim, and then announced to the  young  executives, "Behold your next Chief  Executive  Officer! His name is "Jim!"   Jim couldn't believe it.  Jim couldn't  even  grow his seed. "How could he be  the new CEO?" the others  said. Then the CEO said, "One year ago  today, I gave everyone in this room a seed. I told you  to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today.  But I gave you all boiled seeds; they were dead - it was not possible for them to grow. All of you, except Jim, have brought me trees and  plants and flowers. When you found that the seed  would not grow, you substituted another  seed for the one I gave you.  Jim was the only  one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new Chief  Executive   Officer!" *If you  plant  honesty, you will reap trust   *If you plant goodness, you will reap friends *If  you plant humility, you will reap greatness *If you plant perseverance, you will reap contentment *If you  plant consideration, you will reap perspective *If you plant  hard  work, you will reap    success *If you plant   forgiveness, you will reap reconciliation So, be  careful what you plant now; it will  determine what you will reap later.      Think about this for  a  minute. If I  happened to show up on your door step  crying, would you care?   If I called you and  asked you  to pick me up because something  happened, would you come?   If I had  one day  left to live my life, would you be part of  that  last day?   If I needed a shoulder to cry  on,  would you give me  yours?   This is a test  to see  who your real friends are or if you  are just someone to talk to you when they are bored. Do you know what  the  relationship is between your two eyes? They blink together,      they move together, they cry  together,      they see things  together, and they  sleep together, but they never see each other; that's what  friendship is.      Your aspiration is your  motivation, your       motivation is your belief, your  belief  is your peace,      your peace is your   target, your  target is  heaven, and life is like  hard core torture  without  it! It's 'World Best  Friends Week' Who is your best  friend? Send this to all your  good friends, even me, if I am one of  them. See how many you get  back. If you get more  than 3 then you really are a lovable person.

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