Is there a difference- Setting yourself apart ? - Setting yourself above?
What did you learn from your grandfather? One of my grandfathers- I did not know, however-from Him- I learned the lesson of A Lifetime-Mine.
I learned IT from My Mother. She- from her beloved father, G.J., died when my Mother was just 13. What lesson stayed with my lovely gifted Mother after she lost her father. I know at that moment she must have been devastated and bewildered -still a child-holding fast to those cut short moments. What was My Inheritance, what did they give me?
When my Mother was growing up in a Southern town in the 1930's, her Father was a cotton mill executive, working with cotton mill employees daily. He rolled up his shirt sleeves- & they loved Him, and He loved them. They came to Him for Help- Advice-a Loan. Always, always He met them with Respect. Never were they less than because He had More than. He was engaged as a Father and spoke with respect of those people he worked with. His lesson- to that willing, loving child daughter: Pigtail, Set yourself apart- with your smile, your talent, your good nature, your honesty and your sense of fairness-of what is right.-but, Never above. There will be times when You will be standing alone, unpopular even- maybe, and that's when it is hardest.
The lesson was instilled, distilled really. When I was 9 years old, I had my first experience with-standing alone. A crying child in the cloak room, our classmates had driven there, into her coat for solace. She was sobbing. She had been told her clothes smelled. Yes, it was the smell of warmth-of her family's wood stove and their love. At school- at the age of 9- that warmth- family and love- were being rejected. She refused to go outside to play that day. I comforted Her-I don't know what I said-but I remember what I did, I put my coat on and took her hand and we went out together- and we played.
I think among the many happy moments of my Mother's mothering Me, this was one of her very proudest.
That Lesson, That Gift, That Inheritance. She had given it and I had reached out and held her had to take it.
I make no bones that Beauty, Art, Culture are my Loves- but there are many others.
Would that I were Rich?
Oh, but I Am. I have an inheritance and made a promise to that inheritance:
Set yourself apart, Never above.
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