Father and Son

One morning the son came into the kitchen. Seeing his father sitting at the table reading a paper, eating, he said to him, "How are you this morning, Papa?"

The father set the paper down, dropped his utensils, and looked up at his son. after a long moment of looking at him, he picked up his utensils and paper and resumed what he had been doing.

The next morning the son came to breakfast again. As before, his father was already at the table ahead of him. Again he said to him, "How are you this morning, Papa?"

Just as the day before, his father laid everything down, looked up at his son, held his glaze for awhile, and then resumed his meal.

On the third day, determined his father would talk to him, the son came into the kitchen and, looking directly at his father, stated, "Papa, for the past couple mornings, I have come into this room and greeted you, and you have failed to acknowledge me. Why are you being rude to me? Have I offended you?"

"Each morning you have entered this room. I have set aside whatever I was engaged in to take the time to look upon the person I admire the most. Because I have been so overcome with love and pride for you and have not spoken, does not mean I have not acknowledged you. You need to learn to better understand what is being expressed to you."