A wise old
gentleman retired and purchased
a modest home near a junior high
school. He spent the first few
weeks of his retirement in peace and
contentment. Then a new school
year began. The very next afternoon three young
boys, full of
youthful, after-school enthusiasm, came down his street,
beating merrily
on every trash can they encountered. The crashing
percussion
continued day after day, until finally the wise old man decided it
was
time to take some action.

The next afternoon, he walked out to meet
the young percussionists as
they banged their way down the street.
Stopping them, he said, “You
kids are a lot of fun. I like to see
you express your exuberance like
that. In fact, I used to do the
same thing when I was your age. Will you do
me a favor? I’ll give you
each a dollar if you’ll promise to come
around every day and do
your thing.” The kids were elated and continued
to do a bang-u
p job on the trash cans.

After a few days, the old-timer
greeted the kids again, but this time
he had a sad smile on his face.

“This recession’s really putting a big dent in my income,” he
told
them. “From now on, I’ll only be able to pay you 50 cents to
beat on
the cans.”

The noisemakers were obviously displeased,
but they did accept his
offer and continued their afternoon ruckus.
A few days later, the wily
retiree approached them again as they
drummed their way down the street.

“Look,” he said, “I haven’t
received my Social Security check yet,
so I’m not going to be able
to give you more than 25 cents. Will that
be okay?”

“A lousy
quarter?” the drum leader exclaimed. “If you think we’re
going to
waste our time, beating these cans around for a quarter,
you’re
nuts! No way, mister. We quit!”

And the old man enjoyed peace.