Christian Reflection and Prayer

A STORY ABOUT HUMILITY AND PRIDE
FROM ROBERT SCHULLER SR. 10/12/08

Many years ago, a very humble looking
couple went to see the President of Harvard
(I don't remember his name, but I know the
story well). They had traveled a long way
to get there. The secretary asked them if
they had an appointment, and they said
they didn't but wanted to see the president
anyway.

The woman wore a plain gingham dress
and the man one of those ill-fitting suits that
farmers sometimes wear. They definitely
were not Ivy League. They didn't pass the
cultural test at all. And so the secretary said,
"I'm so sorry, he doesn't have time
today. He's in meetings all day." They said,
"Well, we'll just wait."

And they waited hour after hour. The secretary
hoped they would get tired and leave. But they
didn't, and as time wore on until the end of the
day, the president eventually came out of his
office. He was stuck with them.

The woman in the gingham dress approached
him and said, "Mr. President, we just want to
talk to you for a minute. We had a son and he
went to Harvard for one year and he just loved
this school, but he died and we want to leave
a memorial to him on your campus." And the
president said, "That's nice, but if we had a
memorial on this campus for every student
who attended school here and died, we probably
would look like a cemetery. We just don't do that."

Then she smoothed out her wrinkled dress
and said, "We don't want a statue, we just
wanted to build a building and have our son's
name on it."

And the president said to the couple who
appeared by their dress to be poor farmers,
"You must know, buildings are very expensive.
All the buildings in this Harvard campus
(and this was a long time ago) cost us seven
and a half million dollars."

The woman then turned to her husband
and said, "Honey, if that's all it costs,
let's build our own university." And they
turned to the president and said, "Goodbye sir."
They returned to California and soon built a
university to carry the name of their son -
Stanford University.

Wow!