Average Household Income

A young politician went to a village to campaign for votes. 

He told the village folks that the livelihood of the village folks has improved tremendously due to the government's efforts. He urged the villages to be thankful and thus vote for him as the government's representative!

The village folks asked him what was his proof he has for saying the livelihood in the village has improved as they all felt the same, they were still using the same old gravel road which they have been using 30 years ago and they were still waiting for their tap water and electricity!

The young politician said according to statistics, the average household income has increased to more than RM6,000. When the village folks tried to argue, the young politician said even the minister has said so. 

An old man among the village folks stood up and asked if the young politician cared to take a walk with him along the river. The young politician accepted. The rest of the village folks followed.

The old man asked the young politician whether he realized that the depth of the river was different along the river? The young politician said that was for sure. 

The old man then said the average depth of the river was only half a meter. The young politician nodded.

The old man said by any standard, statistics or words of the minister, a river with the depth of half a meter would not drown a person especially adult. The young politician again agreed.

Out of a sudden, the old man pushed the young politician into the river and that was the deepest part of that river!

The young politician screamed for help, saying he did not know how to swim! No one bothered to help. Everyone was smiling. 

Only when seeing the young politician was almost drown, the old man requested other villagers to pull him out. 

The young politician was furious and threatened to sue the villagers. However the villagers threatened to push him back into the river. The young politician gave up. 

The old man then asked the young politician if he really thought the livelihood of the village folks has improved? The young politician reluctantly said no! 

The young politician left and never returned to the village. 

Life Lesson 101: Never fool others with the wrong tool!