Words from the Heart

As we close out this month-long celebration of Reading, I thought I would share an incident that just took place on a recent visit to my daughter's home. But, first let me give you a quick history of reading in my family. As far back as I can go...a few generations...the women in our family have been literate. My great grandmother read to my grandmother, who read to my mother, who read to me. I, in turn, read to my daughters and they have followed suit reading to their daughters. It is a pasttime that we all delight in. So, it came as no surprise when my daughters became mothers to see bookshelves filled with children's books in their homes. This past weekend I visited with the girls. On three separate occasions, each of my three granddaughters climbed into my lap with a book to read. In the middle of reading to my oldest granddaughter, I realized that this gift had come full circle. In my mind's eye, I could see the generations holding children on their laps reading...

My mother, bless her, gave me many solid ideals upon which to base my life. One of her favorite bits of advise was, "If you don't have something good to day, don't say anything." You see, words, regardless of what the nursery rhyme states, do hurt. They can literally maim another person's spirit, integrity, and mind. Alternately, words can be the balm that heals the spirit, builds the integrity and comforts the mind. While we may have all the intentions in the world of saying something good, I have learned that sometimes, what we say can either be mistaken or said in a careless way that unintentionally hurts others. I know this first hand, because, as my mother told me, I had chronic foot and mouth disease (F&M)...in other words, I was constantly putting my foot in my mouth by saying things that I shouldn't. As an extremely inquisitive child, I wanted to know why people had crutches, why our skin was different colors, why some people didn't have clean...