Mother's Day observations

Happy Mother's Day to all. Since I have become a parent I tend to observe other parents with their children more. I observe to see if I can pick up a few pointers but most of the time I find myself shaking my head with amazement. Most of us turn to our own mother for help since children do not come with an owners manual. My mother departed this world in 1991 and my son was born in 1998 so that avenue was not open to me. So I tend to fall back on how she kept me out of trouble.

My apartment complex has a range of parents and ages of children. Just today as I was polishing and waxing my car-off topic I highly recommend Meguiar's car care products, they put a great shine on the car- in the parking lot of my apartment. I hear a small child's voice. I look up and see about a 4 year old girl outside my building playing with her scooter. She is outside and I see no adult. Then I hear another small voice and on the deck of a second floor apartment I see what appears to be her brother of about 18 months. The girl is outside playing in the parking area outside the buildings. Being it is Mother's Day most of the parking spots do not have cars in them as people are out paying homage to Mom. But this is the same parking area that I have spoken about in my March 17th post.

I continue to buff my car and the little girl walks around the corner of the building out of sight. Not 30 seconds later a car drives around the building in one direction. About a minute after that a motorcycle comes around the parking lot from the other direction. The girl is out of my sight and out of the woman's sight who now appears on the deck checking on our explorer. It is the last I see of the woman as she returns inside her apartment. Hopefully she found her child in the front of the apartment building.

Now when I was young I know my mother let me play in our yard while she was in the house. But that was 40 plus years ago (ouch). And I also know she gave the Duggan Bread man an ear full after he gave me a ride around the block without telling her I was in his truck. The world is a little different today. Plus this apartment complex has about 150 units spread out in about 10 buildings.

When I am with my son I never let him out of sight and he is 10. Maybe I'm paranoid but these days there are just to many people out there that just do not care about doing the right thing.

Character seems to be harder and harder to find these days, but it may be the most important thing there is. Humans have always been looking for character and been drawn to it. Here are some quotes worth thinking about.

The measure of a man's character is what he would do if he knew he never would be found out.
— Baron Thomas Babington Macauley, English historian and statesman (1800-1859)

Character, in the long run, is the decisive factor in the life of an individual and of nations alike.
— Theodore Roosevelt, American adventurer and 26th president (1858-1919)

Character is that which reveals moral purpose, exposing the class of things a man chooses and avoids.
— Aristotle, Greek philosopher (384-322 B.C.)

You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him.
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German poet, novelist, playwright, scientist and philosopher (1749-1832)

So today on Mother's Day make sure to thank your mother, she was the first person to set you straight on what is right and what is wrong.