WHEN PEOPLE SHOW YOU WHO THEY ARE, BELIEVE THEM

By Vernalee

Admittedly, I am slow to judge people. I have always felt that there is good in everyone. Why I fail to recognize that good folks can do bad things and bad folks can do good things is beyond my comprehension. Go figure. Giving folks the benefit of the doubt has always been my forte and to some extent, my downfall. Sorry! Silly me! Perhaps, I tend to see the good, not the bad; the successes, not the failures. No matter what cover up process is used, invariably people will show you who they are. It is in their DNA. Well put by the late great Dr. Maya Angelou, “When people show you who they are, believe them ...”

Our failed acknowledgement to admit what we see or refuse to see is our cover-up, not theirs! Stop making excuses. Don’t wait until they do something despicable that hurts our feelings! Injury knows no preference. We can’t say that they didn’t give us a preview. With wide opened eyes, we saw! Our task is to believe

JUST FEED 'EM WITH A LONG HANDLED SPOON

By Vernalee

I found myself telling my niece something this week that went way, way back to my days growing up on a graveled paved road lined with dirt ditches now called Spencer Street (it was unnamed when I lived there). It was one of those throw back phrases that I often heard the old women say. "Girl, just feed 'em with a long handled spoon." Of course as a young girl, I had no idea what that meant!

This saying - "simply means to respect people, but not to get too close to them especially if they have hurt you in some way in the past. While you treat them how you would like to be treated, you still cast an eye behind your back and make sure they don't hurt you again."

Back then, my friends and I constantly laughed at their talking about the incidents of their life. We thought that none of that stuff would ever happen to us. We were too smart or so we thought. We always said, ”Those old folks are just trying to get into our business. They don’t know what they are talking about.”

Age brings about a change. We grew to “eat our words.” Those women were wise beyond years. They had ”walked their talk!”

They also told us, “Jes keep on a living and when life smacks ya in the face, y‘all will understand what we are trying to tell ya!”

Were they ever right!

I can see them now sitting on their porches (some drinking lemonade and others in all honesty drinking a shot of strong Old Forester whiskey straight without a chaser). I can hear them talking stuff as we youngsters walked by without a care in the world.

”Read my lips. I'm gonna keep this short and sweet. Follow this here advice that I’m giving ya and it'll sho keep ya outta trouble."

To my elders, I now say this. “ It took some years for your words to sink in and penetrate my soul. Do know that I heard you then and I still remember your words of old. Strangely, they took root. Nowadays, your words are not funny any more. I listened. I took heed. You would be proud of me because I just used that long handled spoon!”

Photo credit: www,pininterest,com

WHEN THE WEIGHT IS ON YOUR BACK

By Vernalee

This proverb, “Once you carry your own water, you’ll learn the value of every drop” means that when you carry the load, you will appreciate the work that goes into getting or producing something.

Think about it. When you turn on your faucet and the water automatically flows, you don’t give it a second thought. It’s as easy as one, two, three. However, if you had to carry every drop of water that you used - to drink, to cook, to wash or bathe - in a bucket from a distant pump, you would soon begin to take caution not to waste any of it and literally appreciate every drop. When the weight is on your back and you carry the load, it is then that you recognize what it takes to do the tasks at hand. You will also see things differently - up close and personal. In addition, when you have to rely on yourself (i.e. carrying the water) and no one else, you do what it takes to get from point A to Z; to make ends meet. Once again, self preservation kicked in and we re-engaged our timeless motto, “If it is to be, it’s left up to me!”

Water just like the tasks of life can be a heavy load. I know it all too well.

Back in the day, I was the “water girl” who wore a big straw hat and gloves (to prevent callouses) as I carried a heavy tin bucket of water in the scorching Mississippi sun to soothe the thirst of the field workers chopping cotton. “Oh my aching back!”

Nevertheless, my job and theirs got done.

...It was all in a day‘s work! ...

Today, I appreciate my parents and the hard working people that I grew up around. Their tireless work ethic was incredible! They taught me values.

One of which is that hard work pays off!

Photo credit: me.me