Two Life Lessons I Never Forgot

When I was only a child, my father taught me a number of valuable life lessons.  One he taught has stuck with me. I thought that it was funny when he taught it to me, but as I entered high school and college and now middle-age, I see that he was correct. He told me to never assume anything about anybody else because when you assume, you make an "ass" out of "u" and "me".

I was only eleven years old when he told me this and laughed because he used the word "ass". I was an immature kid — what can I say. But I started to use that phrase and it has become my mantra. When I want to think something about somebody, I get the facts first. If my facts are wrong, then I have to say to myself that I cannot think that about that person. My initial perception was wrong.

When I am wrong, I admit it. I am not someone who will cower behind a chair or a desk and say, "It wasn't me!", when it was. How many people will own up when they are wrong? Well, I do. Maybe it's just me, but that is how I was raised — to admit when I have made a mistake or lapse in judgement. I am forever telling friends of mine to stop assuming, and then I tell them why. They don't like it, but they get over it quickly enough because my friends are people who think.

The other lesson that my father taught me was that whenever you point a finger at someone else, there are three more pointing right back at you. I didn't understand what he meant when he said told me that the first time. I had to have him explain it to me. He told me to point at the dog (we had a wonderful dog named Christie when I was a child). Then he asked me to look at my own hand. I did what he said. Then my father asked me where was I pointing. I told him at the dog. He told me that I was wrong, that three of my fingers were pointing at me. When I looked at me hand, there they were. One finger was pointing at the dog but three were pointing at me.

The lesson with this one is that whenever you place the blame on someone else, there will always be other people looking to place the blame on you for what went wrong. Whenever you try to talk your way out of it, you'll just talk your way into a corner and more fingers will be pointing at you.

What am I trying to say today? Think before you speak. Never assume. Don't blame anyone for anything unless you have physical proof.

And be friendlier to everyone you meet. If you are a man and at a store, then open the door for a woman — be a gentleman. If you see someone having trouble with something, then help him/her out — be helpful. Just try to be more neighborly, everybody. Thank you.