Saturday, Dec. 18, 2010 - 12:33 p.m.
We Don't Have to Take It
*************************
The most valuable thing
I ever got from my Mom
was uncompromised honesty.
This meant to really say
what you really mean,
and then pay the price
for crossing lines, enemies,
frontiers or the status quo
for that privilege .
Usually this heroic speaking up
was a good idea, but sometimes
it cost me dearly,
especially in school
where truth was at a premium.
Looking back, living the highest ideal
I could swing
was always ALWAYS
better than accepting
a lesser more convenient truth.
It is the foundation
of my work as a cartoonist..
Another part of honesty 101
that both my parents
shared and passed on to us kids was -
never steal,
never defraud,
never short change .
If you found something
belonging to someone else
it was your honour
to find them and return it to them intact.
It was a holy mission to fullfill
The line we heard was
� & do it out of the goodness of your heart �.
Both my parents operated
under this simple premise
and they demonstrated to us kids
that life _should happen that way.
I never heard that honourable sentiment
re enforced in regular school ,
on the street or even on TV,
where the maxim
� finders keepers� prevailed.
But it was constantly
if casually reinforced by my Mom & Dad�s
example of workable altruism.
As a result we kids developed
the nobel reflex of
� return to owner � at any cost.
The ten commandments demanded
we did not steal, but what do you do
when you find something you didn�t swipe?
Ask Mom- you just know she'll say
" get it back to the rightful owner-
and be quick about it "
I never ever saw or heard
the palest clue that my parents
would ever steal -
anything from anybody ever.
it was an unthinkable response
to any drama.
Theft fraud or diversion
was simply not an option.
During my childhood experience
where �some� kids
went out in high spirited gangs
to shoplift,
something inside me said
� get away - this is wrong �
and I did walk away.
Later, when i learned
those kids had been
caught for stealing
my heart was rewarded
that I had heard the voice of my parents
warning me to get away
from anybody who would
even consider doing anything like that.
When the police arrived
to bust the little theft ring yonder,
their mortal offense of stealing
was further muddied
by desperate lying to avoid their fate.
And like clockwork,
the weeping perps just ended up
betraying their friends
to save their own sorry thieving skins,
Disgusting
As I grew up I was shocked to hear
adults calmly boast
how they had ripped off
something from work ,
switched price tags at the store,
or go on about how easy it was
to short change their bosses
out of a few hours of work.
I felt a boiling revulsion
when i heard how an adult
had cheated someone
out of some small sum
or worthy opportunity.
And what was worse,
when other adults laughed,
applauded
or were openly envious
of this rotton gain
I felt a sickness of contempt.
Neither of my parents
would ever do any of those things,
and they would never let us kids
get away with anything along that line.
I have found wallets or personal valuables
from time to time as pals looked on.
My thought, based on my upbringing
was to restore the wallet
to the rightful owner
as quickly as possible.
When i heard the dirty whispering
to keep the money
and drop the empty wallet
into a post box,
I felt that contempt sickness again...
I imagined they had learned
how to skim the cream from
someone elses misfortune
at their own homes
when they were kids from their parents
who may have done that sort of thing
on a regular basis
. I don;t know,
none of them
became my lifelong friends.
Now that I am grown up
and can look back
and laugh at the past ,
I know I was luckier t
han most to have had
my parents living example
of never defraud,
never steal, never cheat,
never short change
living right in front of me.
Being quietly heroic
was presented as a normal part of life.
I still have surges of contempt sickness
when I witness theft,
diversion,
fraud or short changing
by people who should know better.
Whenever I experience moral outrage
I owe those reflex dry heaves
to the good example
presented by my Mom and Dad
way back when in childhood.
It has served me very well .
through all these years
Thanks Mom, thanks Dad.
