A Presence in My Life
Most of us have benefited in our lives from the presence of loving and supportive parents. I can affirm that in regard to mine.
A telling example of parenting leadership on the part of my Mother is reflected as follows. When I was a youngster of about ten years of age, a news item on T.V. featured some now forgotten incident of criminality. This aroused my curiosity to ask my Mother, 'What is the baddest thing a person can do?' She responded, rather promptly, in the context of an adult reasoning with a child, that it was to be either a liar or a thief. Upon hearing that, I asked why so. She said that a thief takes that which is not theirs and a liar deceives you. With that, I then 'pressed her' with a query about which is the worse of the two. She replied that a liar is. I asked why this was so and she said the liar was because he/she accomplished both evils at the same time: by lying he/she deceives you and steals from you your confidence in their word forevermore.
Although it has been some years since I've lost my parents, their presence in my life still guides me to this day.
