May 16 , 2024 The Beacon • 33
We are taught by those coming from all walks of our life
I was recently assisting at a local school ’ s teacher appreciation luncheon , which got me strolling down memory lane with some of those wonderful teachers from my past . The year was 1962 when I entered the public school system . I guess the unbridled , fullthrottled enthusiasm with which I ran down our dirt road and climbed onto the bus , never looking back , made my mother weep .
The prospect of going to school was so exciting I couldn ’ t wait . Thirteen years later I found the prospect of running out the doors of that public school so exciting . I couldn ’ t wait . In spite of my lack of appreciation at that particular moment , I had many a fabulous teacher in the public schools across those years .
But school wasn ’ t the only classroom where I met teachers who gave me an amazing opportunity for a chance to receive instruction on wisdom and wise behavior . I ’ ve been blessed to have a plethora of great teachers from all walks of life . Some even used words to instruct me in knowledge and wisdom . Many didn ’ t .
From memory lane , introducing just a couple of the good people who poured the good stuff into me along the way , my teachers :
Mr . Allen replaced Mrs . Kiser shortly after I began riding the bus that year I entered kindergarten . The reason for that was the Jones boys and their neighbor Eddie . Those boys terrorized everyone . It was said Mrs . Kiser quit because of them . Everyone was hoping , praying and rooting the new bus driver might win . About the third day Mr . Allen started the job , the battle for ruler of the bus blossomed into full swing , literally .
The boys tried to get a scuffle going with Mr . Allen , but they were handily escorted off the bus . It didn ’ t take very long either .
Climbing back on the bus , Mr . Allen closed the door and drove away . He stopped at the appropriate houses , explaining the situation to their mothers standing in the doorways . For the next month , we drove past the Jones boys and Eddie as they walked the 6 miles home from school . When they were allowed to return , they were fairly polite the entire rest of the year .
Those weren ’ t the only problem children on that bus . Some of those deepin-the-woods country kids were really tough . Mr . Allen was tougher . But he was always kind , fair and just . The last day of school , Mr . Allen drove the bus to the ice cream stand on the edge of town and bought the entire bus cones including the Jones brothers , Eddie , everybody . I was a little young to get too much out of church at that time in my life , but I learned a lot about good , evil , justice , mercy and grace that year I was 5 years old from watching Mr . Allen .
Mr . and Mrs . Hamilton owned a hill top a couple miles from our home . Eighty acres of one side of that hill was planted full of Christmas trees . When I was 13 , they hired me to trim the trees , a job I kept and loved all the way through high school . At Christmastime I would load fresh-cut trees from the lanes that laced through the tree patch onto a wagon pulled by an old surplus WWII Willies Jeep .
Though in their 70s at the time , it was not uncommon for Mr . and Mrs . Hamilton to work right alongside us in the tree patch . And come December , it was all hands on deck at the retail lot for
those fast and furious two weeks before Christmas . Those several peek years of their operation , they sold $ 20,000 worth of trees at $ 3- $ 5 a piece in two weekends .
I learned to work long and hard until the job was done . I learned to treat coworkers and customers , no matter their background or manners , with kindness and respect . I learned to laugh with and enjoy the people I served and worked alongside . I rarely felt like I was going to work when I went to the Hamiltons .
Over 50 years now , I ’ ve used those lessons they taught me about work and laughter while getting a job done . To this day I am always busy , but I never go to work much if you hear what I am saying . I use what I observed on that tree farm every day of my life .
I also got plenty of work
ethic , laughter and love lessons at home from my parents . Like their folks before them , Mom and Dad didn ’ t have much materially speaking . We lived in a cellar the first seven years of my life . Some of you reading this might have to Google it . Mom had an old wringer washer , wash tubs and a clothes line for her family of six until I was well into my early teens .
We only had one car growing up , which meant if she didn ’ t take Dad to work , Grandma came up to get her off the hill for shopping , chores and errands . Theirs was a “ mixed marriage ” — Mom a Protestant and Dad a Catholic . In the 18 years I lived with them , I might have missed a handful of Sunday Mass services but not much more than that .
I had two brothers and a sister . Looking back , I guess we didn ’ t have an overabundance of material items either . But our folks worked hard , loved each other and especially loved us . I learned if you had God , love and just kept putting one foot in front of the other , you could get about anywhere you wanted and needed to be , experiencing great joy along the way . Dad died before I left my teen years . Mom eventually remarried , and the country home I watched built from the ground up was sold .
Life can be hard , the good times all too short sometimes . But when you ’ ve experienced love and you realize God ’ s always around , the hard times won ’ t last forever . The possibility of dark days is always a potential . But some endurance , belief and hope in the power of God and love always seem to bring things around .
True faith , hope and love , the greatest of which is love , really do work when you keep at it . My parents taught me that ’ s the trick ; you just gotta keep at it . Mom has outlived two husbands now . She will be 89 in December . She ’ s still teaching me , still keeping at it !
There are many other teachers I could speak of who helped instruct , encourage and mold me into the person I have become . Whether by word or action , example or deeds , thank you so much , each and every one of my teachers . Wisdom , instruction and knowledge are mine , thanks to you . If I can be half the teacher many of you were to me , I will consider myself to have been a good teacher to those with whom I have been entrusted the privilege of sharing an understanding of the godly wisdom I have been shown across the years .