Thins

“I called this meeting to let you all know that as of this moment, our company, is in fact, the number one company in the whole state of Missouri as far as the manufacture of passenger tires are concerned,” was the speech Davin West gave his employees. Davin West was the President of a tire company called West Wheels and Tires in a town in Central Missouri named Ridgewood, and his company was on a successful run that year. In one particular month, he sold twice the units he would normally sell and with that surge in sales, it placed his company in the pages of Forbes magazine. He was a very rich man as well as an arrogant one. Although he had money, he did not have happiness, and his whole world was revolving around his company that he started fresh out of High School.

Davin was the type of man that would not settle for anything less than the best, and his wardrobe backed up that fact. He wore the finest clothes and he drove the most expensive car his ego could afford. He was rich, but he was also cheap. On one occasion, even though the business was booming because of the demand of one of his products, he laid off seventy-five people; all because he didn’t want to continue paying them their lucrative salary. He made his clients wait longer times than usual for their merchandise when they ordered from his company because of the layoffs, but he didn't care. As long as he got paid was his only concern. It also didn’t matter that some of those laid off had families to take care of because when it came to money, he was about as stingy as they came. And with that attitude, he made a lot of enemies along the way.

One Christmas, his mother invited him over to her house for Christmas dinner as well as catching up on old times with her only child. While talking over dinner, Davin noticed that the Christmas tree only had one gift under it when it usually had plenty. So Davin asked his mother why the shortage of gifts that year.

“Mom, where are all the gifts? You not celebrating Christmas this year?” Davin asked.

“No, son, I am celebrating Christmas, but I am only giving one gift because I feel this particular gift will save the life of the individual who receives it.” she answered back.

“What in the world kind of gift is that? And why would you give someone a gift like that?” Davin shouted.

“Because the person who receives it, will definitely need it,” his mother replied back calmly.

“Well, who is this gift for?” he asked cautiously.

“To be honest, it is your gift, Davin.”

“You ARE kidding, right?" he answered back angrily. A gift that you are giving me will save MY life? My life don’t need saving, mom. I am already saved.”

“ARE you? If you are saved, then why are you not happy?”

“I AM happy, mom. I just show it differently.”

“Anyway, when you open this gift, just remember why I gave it to you, Ok?”

“Sure, mom. I will remember.”

Davin took the gift home and when he opened it, it was a pair of jeans that were not the type of clothing he would wear. They were jeans where the legs were very skinny, and he didn’t like the look of them at all. He tried them on, only to be disappointed in the way they looked on him. So he took them off and put them in a box and threw the box in the trash, never to be worn by him again.

Five years later, the Board of Directors called Davin into their office with some disturbing news.

“Davin, have a seat.”

“What’s this all about, Mr. Riley?”

“I want you to look at this video and explain to me what you see.”

Mr. Riley then showed Davin a video of complaints and accidents from people across the country who have used Davin's products, and now they all have lawsuits out against his company in the amount of $10,000,000.

“The Board called you in here Davin to let you know that in light of all of these complaints and this outstanding lawsuit, we have made a unanimous decision and have determined that you being let go from your position would be the best thing for the company.”

“But I started this company! You can’t take it all away from me! I’ll sue you!” Davin screamed out in disgust.

“You can sue us, but the evidence against you is irrefutable and we have the proof. You will lose. We are trying to make this easy on you.”

“I will leave, but remember this, all of you will pay for this betrayal!”

A few months and a long trial later, a court of law found Davin’s company at fault, and they were obligated to pay the families in excess of twelve million dollars instead of the original ten. This is what did the company in, and at the same time, made Davin a very poor man. He couldn't afford living his lavish lifestyle anymore, so he had to part with all of his personal belongings. He gave up his home and since he was too proud to go and live with his mother, he went into a shelter with what little he had left, trying to get back on his feet

One night in the shelter, there was a fight and when the dust settled, all of Davin’s clothing was stolen and he didn't have anything else to wear. Since his clothes were the nicest ones, they chose him as the victim. But while he was thinking on how he was going to get some clothes, one of the staff brought him a box. When Davin opened the box, he was astonished as to what he saw. It was the jeans that he swore he would never wear again that he threw in the garbage five years earlier that somehow found their way back to Davin! Now he had something to wear. All he needed was a shirt and that he found after a brief search. Although he didn’t have anything but those jeans and a shirt, he still could not stand to wear them. It made him sick to his stomach to even look at them and he said to himself when he get some extra money, he would ditch the jeans, and buy him something more his style.

The following evening while he was taking a shower, a fire alarm went off and he ran out of the shower with his towel to see what was happening. When he ran out into the main hallway, it was all covered in smoke and he couldn't see how to get out. The shelter was on fire and he had to get out in a hurry. So he got down on his knees and crawled out to an area where someone saw him and helped him escape unharmed. He was out, but what little he had was gone, including those jeans he hated.

His mother, seeing it all on TV, came to get her son and take him back to her house. Broke, homeless and disgusted with his life, he decided to take a walk to clear his mind. After his walk, he went back to his mother's house and started to try on some clothing he had there, but when he tried them on, they didn’t fit. So he sat in a chair and looked out of a window, asking himself why him.

About an hour later, a man came to his mother’s house with a bag for Davin. He opened the bag and in it were the same jeans that he thought burned up in the fire. Unable to get rid of the jeans this time, he put them on and when he did, he didn’t have the same attitude about them as before. In fact, the fire scorched them in a way that it made them look fashionable. Davin didn't have anything else to wear, so he learned to love his jeans.

One morning while he was out looking for work, a woman walked up to Davin and asked him where’d he get those jeans, and he told her his mother gave them to him. She told him she was a fashion designer and would love to use his jeans in a commercial. With nothing to lose, he said yes. When the commercial aired, everyone who saw it wanted to know where the jeans came from since no major apparel company said they produced the jeans. With no one to take claim for the jeans, Davin told them his mother gave them to him, but he didn’t know where she got them from. Regardless, one major brand did want to market the jeans, with Davin being a major part in their development.

A week later, Davin signed a contract with the company who would produce his jeans and it would again make Davin a rich man. Promotion of the jeans went out to stores and he already had pre-orders for his jeans that would need a three month head start just to keep up with the demand. The same jeans that he hated, that his mother gave to him as a gift, that he needed to save his life, were soon going to be sold everywhere and the whole nation would be attracted to his jeans. But the jeans didn’t have a name and when the manufacturer asked Davin what he wanted to call his jeans, he just said one word….

Thins.