Honoring My Father on His Birthday Anniversary

In Creating Happiness, Recent Posts by Barbara Jacoby

Today is the anniversary of my father’s birthday and although it has been many years since his passing from lung cancer, the lessons that I learned from him in life continue to this day. There are so many of them that I could never begin to tell you all of them with examples but there are two, in particular, that I would like to share.

“I have eternal gratitude to my father for lessons learned and it is my fondest hope that I will continue this in my life always and pay it forward in my every thought, word and deedBarbara Jacoby

First, I was taught how to think and do for myself. If I wanted something, I had to figure out a way to earn it. This started from the time that I was a child and had to earn my allowance and continued through college. As an example, my dad had three of us in college at the same time and he informed us that we had to work, at least during summer vacations, to prove to him that we really wanted this. He would then pay for whatever we did not have from our own earnings for college because we were required to save every dollar we earned. This applied to everything, not just money. And this appreciation continues through today and gives me such a feeling of accomplishment to even help others in this way.

The second lessons applies to respect. We watched and learned, first by example, as my parents exhibited this between the two of them. No matter how they interacted with each other or made decisions that applied to the family and our home, they always discussed and came to a mutual decision that they ultimately shared with us. When it came to respect outside of the home, the same rules applied to how we treated every other person, no matter if that was another child or an adult. For example, if we misbehaved at school, we were not only punished at school but we were reported to our parents who also found an appropriate way to “punish” us. This was never done by yelling or belittling us in any way but rather by removing something from us that they knew would hurt us even more.

But, most of all, we tried not to do anything that was disrespectful to someone else because we did not want to hurt our parents. It hurt us more than it did them because they were so good and loving and caring to us that we never wanted to disappoint them or bring dishonor to our family. Even to this day, I do try never to do or say anything that is disrespectful in any way because of how it reflects on me and hurts me so much. This is the reason why I try to think before I respond to anyone in any way.

So, I have eternal gratitude to my father for lessons learned and it is my fondest hope that I will continue this in my life always and pay it forward in my every thought, word and deed. And I pray to the Lord my God to bless not only me but also my father as well in heaven for all that he has given to all of us.