Treating people with love and respect.

Although a lot of people influenced my life in many very positive ways, more than anyone else, my father did. He taught me many things, such as the importance of hard work, discipline, and believing in myself. He even taught me that a sense of humor, and especially laughing at yourself, can be one of life's greatest blessings. But at the top of the list, he taught me to treat people with love and respect.....to live the Golden Rule, so to speak.

Take this.

There was this ex-convict who had just returned to our place after serving his sentence at the National Penitentiary. Everybody was avoiding the man and pretended not to see him whenever he was around. So when Father talked to the person one afternoon while coming home from work and even spent about an hour talking with him about just anything else like his children, how they were doing in school, and the farm he was tending, when they finally parted ways I asked, "Dad, why did you spend so much time with him? He is an ex-convict. What would the neighbors say?"

He looked me straight in the eyes and said, "I'm your father and I tell you lots of stuffs like any father should, but if you remember nothing else I ever tell you, remember this .....treat every human being just the way that you would want to be treated." He further said, "I know this is not the first time you've heard it....in the church, at school, oh, elsewhere, but I want you to truly understand it, because if you had understood, you would never have said what you said. If you live the Golden Rule everything else in life will usually work itself out, but if you don't your life will probably be unhappy and without meaning."

And he was of course right.

One stormy night, a few months after Father had that conversation with the man who came straight from prison, our family was roused from sleep by red ants crawling every where and biting us as they did. To our great horror, the river nearby had swollen and cut through the open field directly hitting our house. We had to evacuate immediately and stayed till morning, and your guess is as good as mine, at the ex-convict's house which was located on higher grounds.

Recently, I read this from a book: "If you teach your child the Golden Rule, you will have left them an estate of incalculable value." Truer words were never spoken.

In parting, I would like to share with you my.....

ONE GOOD TURN DESERVES ANOTHER

One good turn deserves another -
I learned early in life.
A smile that's sweetly given,
shall end a bitter strife.

A noble act won't go unrewarded
yes, I believe it's true.
A good deed done to others
will come right back to you.

Having showed the right path
to one who lost his way;
No wonder, at life's lonesome trail
someone offered you company.

The hand that you extended
to someone in distress;
Shall someday hold the beacon -
the light of happiness.

The heart that you have opened
to an abandoned soul;
Shall one day be the portal
for blessings, great and small!