Smile of the Sun - 太陽のほほえみ
生前ハヤット神父が寄稿されたお話しを英語と日本語で毎月お届けします。
Young Boss
Each company has a spirit of its own. Some offices are neat, others are cluttered. Some are lively, others are not. Some offices are filled with a friendly atmosphere, while others are cold and forbidding.
One trading company which I visited recently especially impressed me. I had an appointment at 10:00 A.M. with the president of the company. But I arrived 20 minutes early. The president was not in his office yet, so I sat down in the reception room. About 10 minutes later, there was a slight commotion in the adjoining room. The president had arrived and the three ladies who were working in the room rose to greet him. As the president walked past the three secretaries, he greeted them in English. "Good Morning, Young Ladies." They returned the greeting in English: "Good Morning, Young Boss."
I could not help laughing. It was a strange greeting, for neither the president nor the secretaries were young. The president was grey and half bald. The secretaries were well on their way to middle age. Yet there was a remarkable spirit of youth in that office.
When I met the president, I told him I had heard his greeting. He replied, "We've been exchanging that greeting for years. We are all getting older. It's a good way to begin the day. A person is not old until he thinks he is old. "
I felt a little younger myself, as I left the office.
