What Will They Hear Us Say?
The other day at a restaurant buffet, I approached the dessert table with plate in hand, when an older woman suddenly turned from the line just beside me to help herself to a piece of cake just in front of me. She had not realized I was there, and backing up, apologized.
My parents always raised me to be polite to others, especially to women. I was taught to open doors for others, to let others go first, etc. Now in my mid-life years, the voices of my parents still resound in my head, so that I react without thinking. So I said to the lady at the dessert table, “No, you go first. My Momma wouldn’t like it if I went before you.”
We both chuckled, and I continued, “She’s been gone for several years, but I still hear her voice in my head, telling me that ladies always go first.” The older lady, still smiling, told me that she was raised by her grandparents, and they taught her similar matters of etiquette. She said, “I still hear their voices, too.”
Then she looked at me out of the corner of her eye and said, “One day, when we’re both gone, someone will remember something we said. What will they hear us say?”
She gave me much to think about. And as I begin a New Year, I’ve determined that I want to leave a legacy behind me, one that will speak to others long after I have left the scene. One day, when I am gone, someone will remember something I said, or something I did. What will it be?
That is up to me.
--Rocky Henriques, December 22, 2008, www.timothyreport.com
