I remember reading this story about Henry Kissinger. Nixon's Secretary of State.
Kissinger was sitting behind his desk. His young assistant was led in by Kissinger's secretary.
Kissinger didn't bother looking up.
"Here is the report you asked for," the assistant said in his halting, trembling voice, placing the report on Kissinger's desk.
Without looking up, Kissinger grunted, "Is this the best you can do?"
The shamed assistant lowered his head and mumbled, "I will go back and redraft.
The next day, the same scene, the same Kissinger response, the same Assistant leaving shamefaced, promising to do better.
The third day the same scene, the same Kissinger response, but now the same Assistant dug his heels in.
"This is the best i can do."
Without looking up, Kissinger grabbed the report, and muttered.
"Now, I will read it."
Kissinger. The Great Kissinger.
This was pure cruelty.
The question comes to mind: "Is this how Kissinger's father treated him as a young child?"
Another story, another treatment, another father.
The manager of Pascal's, once Montreal's top hardware store, told me this story.
He came from Poland, where his father was a top diplomat.
Every Sunday, his father held court. Every visitor was allotted 15 minutes pre-scheduled time.
His son had the same 15 minute time with his father.
Once a week.
11 Am Sunday morning.
On that particular Sunday, the son arrived 15 minutes before his scheduled appointment.
The diplomat's son never forgot that Sunday
There sitting and waiting for his own appointment was the Cardinal of Poland. His appointment was to follow after the son's appointment.
At 11 AM sharp, the doors to his father's office opened, the previous appointment walked out,
and his father beckoned......
not to the Cardinal, but his son!
The son, bursting with pride, walked into his father's office, his head held high.
He was his father's son. He was the chosen one.
The memory of that morning sustained the diplomat's son.....for a lifetime!
So little....so much!
Fathers of their young sons and daughters have the power to shape their lives.
It is the height of power.
It is the height of responsibility.
