Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there. This for me is a reflection on the sacrifice my mother made in my life. What a sacrifice it was. My mom raised my sisters and I as a single parent. My dad was not involved to say the least and never once to I recall my mom bad mouthing my father. My mom allowed his actions to speak for himself. My mom was there for everything. We grew up in frugal circumstances. I never knew that I was disadvantaged in any way as my mom sacrificed to ensure my sisters and I grew up in a safe neighborhood and went to good public schools. My sisters and I were latch-key kids and didn't have the advantage of having our mom there after school but we all knew she loved us and wanted us to be our best. We all studied hard and learned how to be independent good people in society. I think that is what any parent would want, right? I was thinking the other day how my mom would call me out on things as a kid. When I was really young she would say "Robert, you don't know your own strength." Let me tell you how much I hated hearing that phrase. As I got older I realized this is true. There are things I can do naturally that others just can't. For example, if you hand me an apple, I have no problem just tearing it in half with my hands. No technique. Just dig your fingers into the apple and tear it in half. I always thought people could do this but then my mom's words come back into my mind. She would also say "How would you feel if you were [fill in the learning for the day here]" For me that was the beginnings of me looking inward to how my actions may be received by others. She probably said that phrase a thousand times. It was so often that I realized two things. 1.) I am probably doing things that are not nice. 2.) If I took some time to think about the situation before I said something or acted, I would probably do something different. That council was probably the biggest change to my life as it had me thinking inward to the Golden Rule of treating others as you would want someone to treat you.
So - why do I go on this back story of my life today? I am reflected on how as parents we are put into a place of being mentors to the future generations of today. How it is so important not to have a generation of orphans with parents. To be involved. To be engaged. To teach. To inspire. To wonder why this world is going to crap and then we all stare mindlessly into our phones. I am not immune to the challenges before us all. There are times I want to chuck my phone into the depth of the sea. I count myself as blessed to live at a pivotal time both before and during the age of technology. Before I go on a tangent on technology, let me just say the purpose of this blog entry is to say that some of the greatest teachers were parents. To those mothers who have put there all into the raising of their children you have my utmost respect. Thank you to my mom, wife(s), grandmothers, sisters, and daughters who have and continue to set such a positive example and who have had such a profound impact upon my life. Thank you.
