The Round Robin challenge this time around is "Hero's". Of all the important people who have been hero's in my lifetime, I have to showcase my parents. I am the most blessed person when it comes to family.
This picture is close to 30 years old. In my minds eye when I think "Mom" or "Dad" the faces that come to me are the faces of their youth and not the Grandma and Grandpa that they have morphed into. Sometimes I dream about them and I see them also as young and vibrant. I awake feeling I have been given a wonderful gift.
A hero is someone you look up to and admire. Someone who is brave in the face of adversity. Someone who can sacrifice for the right cause or any cause that needs help. Hero's are people who help other people. Who have strong convictions about right and wrong. Who lead by example. Who do the right thing even if it is the hardest path to take. Hero's are people who put the greater good ahead of themselves. They are not selfish, they are not hypocrites. They are kind and generous. Stern and unbendable when they have to be. They live the law of love.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
I could fill page after page of my parents teaching this to their six children. The times when the less fortunate kids from our school would be in our kitchen making Christmas cookies with us. The year we had a house full of girls from South America, who went to the all girls college and could not go home for Christmas so they were at our house. When the neighbor that lived behind us came to the back door to ask my Mom for help, and she was always helped. The bags of corn and tomatoes that were given as gratitude, because the money would/could never be paid back. My father doing income taxes for the elderly and illiterate. My parents paying for memberships to the swimming pool for families that could not afford it. My mother giving away a full blooded Brittany Springer Spaniel puppy to a family who could not pay the asking price and the children were heart broken.
They taught me to give as a way of life.
We celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary several years ago. Hundreds of people came to the party! People came from all over this country to celebrate the auspicious occasion. I heard story after story about their kindness. Some of them whispered in my ear. Others were told looking me directly in the eye. Some with their eyes downcast. The stories had one common theme, how my parents had changed their lives with some small or large kindness. As simple as the offering of support or encouragement when needed. or as the one teenager of me of a card with $100 tucked inside so she could go to camp with the others.
I know there are a lot of hero's out there in this world. My two hero's come from my small little place in this world.
My parents.
No comments:
Post a Comment