Working To Impress

A retired friend became interested in the construction of an addition to a shopping mall. Observing the activity regularly, he was especially impressed by the conscientious operator of a large piece of equipment. The day finally came when my friend had a chance to tell this man how much he'd enjoyed watching his scrupulous work. Looking astonished, the operator replied, "You're not the supervisor?" 

 - Howard A. Stein in Reader's Digest

Too Busy To Play Until It's Too Late

My precious boy with the golden hair 

Came up one day beside my chair

And fell upon his bended knee

And said, "Oh, Mommy, please play with me!"

I said, "Not now, go on and play;

I've got so much to do today."

He smiled through tears in eyes so blue

When I said, "We'll play when I get through."

But the chores lasted all through the day

And I never did find time to play.

When supper was over and dishes done,

I was much too tired for my little son.

I tucked him in and kissed his cheek

And watched my angel fall asleep.

As I tossed and turned upon my bed,

Those words kept ringing in my head,

"Not now, son, go on and play,

I've got so much to do today."

I fell asleep and in a minute's span,

My little boy is a full-grown man.

No toys are there to clutter the floor;

No dirty fingerprints on the door;

No snacks to fix; no tears to dry;

The rooms just echo my lonely sigh.

And now I've got the time to play;

But my precious boy is gone away.

I awoke myself with a pitiful scream

And realized it was just a dream

For across the room in his little bed,

Lay my curly-haired boy, the sleepy-head.

My work will wait 'til another day

For now I must find some time to play. 

- Dianna (Ars. Joe) Neal

It's A Sad Way Down

Michael Donahue, founder of InterWorld Corporation in New York City, was elated when his company’s share price skyrocketed in a public stock offering in August 1999, earning him $448 million. So he splurged big-time.

He bought a $9.6 million second home in Palm Beach, spent $100,000 to help sponsor his polo team in Florida, and dropped a bundle renting a private jet so he could whisk off to Palm Beach on weekend jaunts with his wife. “It was a lifestyle thing,” he says.

Today Donahue is a member of another club — call it the 90 percent club — of executives whose companies’ stock prices have fallen that much or more from their peak. The value of Donahue’s InterWorld stake has plunged to $12.6 million; the share price falling 96.8 percent to $2.94 from a peak of $93.50 on December 31, 1999. Donahue was asked to repay part of a $14 million loan he took out with his InterWorld stock as collateral. And he had to put his Palm Beach house on the market for more than $13 million.

“Going up was easy,” Donahue says. “But when it starts going down, no one wants to talk to you. It’s been the most challenging personal experience of my career.”

 — Susan Pulliam and Scott Thurm, 
“Echelon of Ex-centimillionaires Sees Stakes 
Plunge as Net Craze Fades,” Wall Street Journal (October 20, 2000)