Learning to do what's right

"In a world full of people who couldn't care less, be someone who couldn't care more." ~ Author Unknown 

 Saw that quote posted on a friend’s Facebook page and knew it was time to type the blog post I’d been writing in my head all day!

 Yesterday I made my mama proud.

 That statement might read funny to you, but there’s lots of truth in those six words. Although Mama has been gone from this Earth for two decades this December, her influence in my life lives on and on. 


There have been times when I knew for certain that things I did wouldn’t make Mama proud of me. But I did them anyway. And there have been choices I’ve made that I knew were well below the way I was taught growing up. But I made them anyway.

 So when I state that I did something that I’m certain made Mama proud, it’s a big deal for me. Especially in a period of my life when I’ve seemed to make one wrong turn and one bad decision right after another.

 Maybe, though, I’m in another autumn of my life and I’m finally turning over a new leaf or two.

 I won’t share what I did that I’m so certain about. Although the action was crucially important at the time, the act was all I really need to share since it’s really not kosher to brag about every little thing you do correctly.

Walking away, the importance of the action hit me. No, actually, it was like I felt Mama softly put her arm around my shoulders and pat the top of my arm. That’s how I knew it was the right decision and that I was walking in what I had been taught as a child.

 From that moment, my steps felt a little lighter and a burden I’d been carrying myself seemed to shift away a bit.

 Life isn’t easy, but it can be less difficult when you take time to reach out and show you care. I have always believed it’s a lot easier to be kind than mean. Days like yesterday prove that theory to me over and over again.