SELF IMPROVEMENT

There is a story of an executive who often dropped whatever change she had in a cup held by an amputee who sat on the street outside her office building. But she always insisted on getting one of the pencils he had in a cup beside him.

“You’re the businessman,” she would say, “and I always expect to get good value from the people I do business with.”

One day the amputee was not on the sidewalk. Time went by and the executive forgot about him. Then, many months later, she was on her way to get her train when she discovered the amputee running the newsstand in the terminal.

“I always hoped you’d come by some day,” he said. “More than anyone else you’re responsible for my being here. You kept telling me I was a businessman and I started thinking of myself that way. You gave me self-respect and that made me look at myself differently. One thing led to another, and here I am.”