One day a very rich father took his family on a trip to the country. "How come we're doing this, Dad?" one of the kids wanted to know.
"Oh," he replied, "I just want to show you how poor some people can be."
So they spent a day and a night at the farm of a very poor family. When they returned from their journey, the father asked his son, "Well, how did you enjoy that?"
The young man said, "Aw, it was super, Dad! Thanks!"
"And...what did you learn?" the father asked. And his boy answered, "I saw that we have a dog here at home...but that farmer and his family had FOUR dogs.
"We have a swimming pool that reaches to the middle of the garden; but they have a creek that doesn't even have an end.
"We have imported lamps in our garden; but they have the stars they can see every night.
"Our patio reaches to the front yard, but they have a whole horizon."
The boy stopped for a moment and looked at his shaken father. "Dad," he said, "you told me you were going to show me how poor people can be. I get it--we're really poor, aren't we?"
My friend a rich man is not he that has much, but he who needs little to be rich.