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Bill had trouble finding work, but finally he got a job as garbage man. On his first day on the job, the boss gave him a written list of the addresses he had to go to pick up garbage.  Bill looked at the list despondently.  “I can’t read,” he confessed to his boss.  “Well,” said the boss, “if you can’t read then you can’t be a garbage man.”  He felt sorry for Bill so he handed him some bananas and wished him good luck.  Bill went to the park to sit and think about his life.  He set the bananas on the bench beside him.  A man came along and asked Bill if he would sell him a banana for five cnets.  Bill sold him a banana.

Thinking about what happened, Bill placed the rest of the bananas on the bench in a more noticeable position.  Before an hour had passed, he had sold all of his bananas.  In fact, the demand was so high he figured he could raise the price to 10 cents for the last two bananas.  Sure enough, they sold.  Bill decided to go down to the grocery store and buy as many bananas as he could with the money from his sales.  Back to the park bench he went.  Every day throughout the summer, he went to the park, and sold bananas.  Then he started to sell different fruits, and soon he found a place for himself at the gate of the park.  Bill made more and more money.

Twenty years passed, and he found himself in the boardroom of a major company to which he was selling his business, which had now grown to be one of the biggest food distribution companies in the United States.  His company was worth hundreds of millions of dollars.  Finally, the documents were ready to sign.  The lawyers put them in the front of Bill for him to read over.

“I can’t read,” Bill said, and he slid the documents over to his lawyer.  The purchaser couldn’t believe his ears.

“This is unbelieveable,” the purchaser said to Bill.  “Here you are, so successful, without being able to read.  Just imagine what you could have been if you could read?”

Bill replied, “Yes I know.  I cold have been a garbage man”.

- excerpt from Be Great by Peter H. Thomas

So, quit worrying about what you can’t do!

Tags: Banana, Business, business-ethics, illiteracy, Luck, motivational, Peter H. Thomas, quote