golden rules

It seems like yesterday I was just a girl in kindergarten. If I close my eyes I can hear Mrs. F’s voice like a soothing lullaby in my mind greeting us as she did every morning. I can smell her perfume of gardenias in my nose, and feel the warmth of her love as she gives me a hug. I can hear the words she would tell us every day that I still live by today. Don’t judge a book by its cover and treat others as you wish to be treated. I live by those two phrases and am passing it along to my son.

Imagine if everyone could live by those words what a better world we could live in. I can remember sharing those words of wisdom with my dad when he was arguing with my mom and putting her down. He was sitting at the kitchen table and I stood in front of him and asked why he was being so mean to my mommy and how it is not nice to judge a person by the way he or she looks. I asked him if mom was happy with the way she was why could he not love her and be happy with the ways she was. I also told him if he truly loved her it should not matter what she looked like or what she wore. My dad was a little caught off guard and was speechless for a moment. I do not remember how the argument ended but I remember how I felt trying to inspire him to be a better person. Every little girl looks up to her dad as being her own superhero or saving grace from spiders or boogey men hiding under the bed or in the closets. I never wanted to see my dad be an evil nemesis so to speak and wanted him to not be putting down my mom in front of me or anyone else for that matter. If everyone could take a moment and think back to a much younger, innocent age and be kinder to one another what a peaceful world we could have. Or at the least, a much better day and image of ourselves if even for a moment.