As I continue to watch what unfolds on the national scene over the last few days with the awful rhetoric and hate that is spewing at so many levels, I continue to be very thankful for the way I was raised.
My mom was much stricter than Teresa. Teresa was a much more gentle soul, but nonetheless, my mom deeply cared about many things. She just showed it in a different way than Teresa did.
And then there was our Uncle Johnny. Both Judy and I adored him and the feeling was mutual. He was so good to us. I will write more about him later.
Last night when I was watching the news, I was reminded of a quote that my dear friend, Wally Delecki, always used. He was our GPS Superintendent for over 20 years and one of the best humans I know. His quote is "that sometimes it is better to be KIND than to be RIGHT!"
Which then brought back a memory of a lesson I learned about that from my mom. I was a pretty good kid in school. I was very involved in activities and did not get into trouble.
My sophomore year in high school, I had two teachers for biology. Mrs. Herner was the lab teacher. One day when my mom picked me up for lunch, Mrs. Herner had called her. Mrs. Herner wasn't one of the most popular teachers. She told my mom that I had been disrespectful to her. I told my mom that I hadn't been and I wasn't even sure what she was talking about. And it wasn't like me to be disrespectful to a teacher. My mom's response was that she believed me, but that Mrs. Herner's perception was that I had been disrespectful so I needed to fix the perception. She told me that I had to apologize to her. I said I wouldn't--which was a bit of a mistake because it wasn't really a good idea to tell my mom I wouldn't do something!!
Needless to say, that afternoon after lunch, I went to Mrs. Herner's class and apologized to her. It is still to this day one of the greatest lessons that I ever learned.
From that day forward, I became one of her favorite students (and science was never my thing). I was her aide for a period one year. She had a pet skunk named, Petunia, and I got to go visit Petunia every now and then. What I found out about this lady was that underneath her very gruff exterior was just a lonely person. She could not have been warmer or nicer to me!
And this gets back to the quote--I did the kind thing by apologizing to her even though I know I was right in that I had not been disrespectful to her. But a person's perception is their reality. I am happy that I learned this at a young age and I have such a vivid memory of it.
I think there are a lot of people in this country right now who should heed this advice!
Thank you, mom, for this invaluable lesson that I have carried through my life! Who would have ever thought that something so trivial, could have the impact that it did?
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